The Lympstone Fishery & Harbour Association (LFHA) successfully completed its 36th annual craning of boats from the hard standing at the harbour into the brook. As we repeat this exercise in the autumn, but in the opposite direction, we have now conducted 71 craning operations. The hard standing will be open to the summer small boats from 7am on Wednesday the 12th of April. The Association is grateful to residents for easing the passage of the large crane needed for this annual event.
It might be of interest to readers of the Lympstone Herald that the Exe Estuary is quite unusual in that the foreshore and river-bottom are not owned exclusively by the Crown. The Earl of Devon owns an area between Starcross and Turf known as the Manor of Kenton. Lympstone manor passed from the Dynham to the Drake family at Lympstone and runs from Darling Rock to Courtlands Cross. It includes the foreshore up to the line of Mean High Water Spring Tides, the ramp at Sowden End and the Harbour, Hard and Slipway in the village. The title to this land was purchased by the Association in 1996 from Mrs Clark, the doyenne of Belvedere. A map of this property is shown on a sign fixed to the railings at the end of the harbour wall.
In addition, the Harbour Board of the Association (its executive committee) negotiated and pays for a 25-year lease on the land from Darling Rock to the Northern abutment of the railway bridge at Parsonage Stile. In all, over 92 acres (71 acres freehold and 21 acres leased) is owned by the LFHA. Part of this property at the Southern end has been leased to Ingham Fisheries for use as a shellfish farm. The property provides facilities to residents of the parish – a necessary qualification given that the Board can only grant a finite number of licenses. More of this history and how to apply for membership can be found at lympstoneharbour.org.uk.
