PLAQUES

JANE AUSTEN

PYNE HOUSE, BROAD STREET, LYME REGIS

ALTHOUGH the author of Pride and Prejudice and Emma needs no introduction, Austen's links with Lyme Regis are lesser known than those of her connections to Bath and Hampshire. She is believed to have stayed in lodgings at Pyne House when she visited Lyme in 1803 and 1804 and was inspired to write Persuasion.

The Cobb in Lyme features in one of the most memorable scenes in Persuasion, when Louisa Musgrove knocks herself out jumping down some steps. Austen loved being by the sea and was believed to have been a closet 'ship-spotter'.

Austen visited Lyme's Assembly Rooms many times but sadly the building at Marine Parade was demolished in 1924, and the site is now a small car park.