The Axmouth to Lyme Regis undercliffe

The cliffs between Axmouth and Lyme Regis on the south coast of England, were subject of a major landslip on Christmas Day, 1839. This event followed a long period of heavy rain and strong winds. It is reported that "Fissures and cracks began to appear on the cliff top shortly before Christmas 1839, and on 23 December one of the cottages began to subside, at first in no alarming manner. But by 5 p.m. the cottage was settling rapidly, and later other cottages were 'up-heaved and twisted'. ....During December 26th the land that had been cut off from the cliff-top subsided seawards, ....A new inland cliff, 210 ft high ... had thus been exposed, backing a chasm into which some twenty acres of land had subsided." (Steers 1969).

Since then the undercliffe has remained stable and now has mature woodland, open grassland and flushed areas rich in species. The area forms part of the Sidmouth to West Bay candidate SAC (for details see the Joint Nature Conservation Committee web site http://www.jncc.gov.uk look under 'protected sites'. A large part of the area in inaccessible and there is a National Nature Reserve within it.

References

Steers, J.A. 1969. The Coastline of England and Wales, 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, 762 pp.