Lynton
| Lynton | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Lynton from Southcliff Hill | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS718495 |
| Location: | 51°13’49"N, 3°50’11"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Lynton |
| Postcode: | EX35 |
| Dialling code: | 01598 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Devon |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Devon North |
Lynton is a small town close to the north coast of Devon, on the northern edge of Exmoor. Lyton stands at the top of a gorge above the seaside village of Lynmouth, to which it is connected down the cliff by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway.
In Lynton is the Parish Church of St Mary, which stands overlooking the sea, surrounded by shops and hotels. The tower is mainly thirteenth century but the church itself has been enlarged and altered — most notably in 1741, when the nave was rebuilt, and later in Victorian times.
Many of the town buildings were constructed in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The Town Hall was given to the town by Sir George Newnes, Bt, a major benefactor of the town. He also gave the town the Congregational Church on Lee Road.
Cliff Railway
The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway is a water-powered funicular railway carrying passengers up and down the cliffs between Lynton and Lynmouth. It was designed by George Croydon Marks (later Baron Marks of Woolwich), and paid for mainly by Sir George Newnes, the town's major benefactor.
Construction work, relying entirely on manual labour, began in 1887 and was completed in less than three years. The railway is still running today as then.
History
Evidence of Iron Age activity can be found at the nearby Roborough Castle.
Lynmouth was a minor port which supplied Lynton, but the cliff separating Lynton from the sea was problematic; packhorses bore everything up the gorge. In the nineteenth century, holidaymakers began to arrive: from about 1820, steamboats began to head out to Lynmouth from down the Bristol Channel and cottages to rent and guesthouses began to appear, but the cliffs stood in the way until the cliff railway was opened in 1890.
Lynton was once the terminus for the narrow-gauge Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, which served both Lynton and Lynmouth.
Miscellany
The classic novel Lorna Doone is set in the Lynton area.
The South West Coast Path passes through the area, and The Two Moors Way runs from Lynmouth to Ivybridge in South Devon.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Lynton) |