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With the
weather still holding out on the Sunday morning, we packed up after
breakfast and decided that a walked from the NT basecamp car park down the
hillside to Lynmouth and back would suit us just fine. Lynmouth
village straddles the
confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge 210 m below
Lynton, to which it is connected by the water powered Lynton and Lynmouth
Cliff Railway funicular. The high cliffs separating the two towns (then
villages) were a major obstacle to economic development in the 19th century.
Because of the remoteness of the area, and rugged geography, villagers had
to rely on the sea for most deliveries of coal, lime, foodstuffs and other
essentials, which had then to be carried by packhorses and carts up the
steep hill to Lynton. The cliffs also posed problems for the burgeoning
tourist industry. Holiday makers began to arrive at Lynmouth on paddle
steamers from Bristol, Swansea and other Bristol Channel ports, from about
1820. Ponies, donkeys and carriages were available for hire, but the steep
gradients led to the animals having only short working lives.
Opened on
Easter Monday in 1890, the railway has been in continuous use ever since. An
Act of Parliament formed the Lynmouth & Lynton Lift Company in 1888, and a
further Act gave the company perpetual rights to the water from the Lyn
Valley. The railway comprises two cars, each capable of transporting 40
passengers, joined by a continuous cable running around a 5 ft 6 in
(1.676 m) pulley at each end of the incline. Water feeds through 5-inch
(127 mm) pipes from the West Lyn River — over a mile away — into tanks under
the floor of the upper car. Each car has a 3,182 litre tank mounted between
the wheels. Water is discharged from the lower car, until the heavier top
car begins to descend, with the speed controlled by a brakeman travelling on
each car. |
