The Lerret Heritage Project
Alongside the year-long Maritime Lyme events programme, a unique heritage project was launched, led by Lyme Regis Museum and boat builder Gail McGarva, in celebration of the unique Dorset fishing boat, the Lerret.
This historic fishing vessel dating back to 1615 is wholly native to Lyme Bay, designed to be launched and landed from the steep stoney shelf of Chesil Beach. Though primarily used for mackerel fishing,in the early 19th century the newly established RNLI adopted two lerrets for service as lifeboats,in recognition of their remarkable sea-worthiness.
Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Lerret Project has enabled people all along the Dorset Coast to learn about and enjoy the stories of this unique vessel and the fishing communities it served. An evocative touring exhibition The Story of the Lerret was launched in 2011 sharing extracts from the museum's Lerret oral history collection alongside photographs of the people who recounted their memories. The exhibition was accompanied by a storytelling tent in which visitors could hear the recorded memories and were surrounded by the nets, floats, pots and stones of the Lerret fishing days.
At the heart of the exhibition were the two Lerrets, Vera of 1923 and her daughterboat Littlesea, built by Gail McGarva in 2010 with funding from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. At each of the touring events the Lerrets were on display and where the location permitted, the boats were launched, followed by a ceremonial row.
The Lerret project is featured in a new publication from National Historic Ships, titled 'Conserving Historic Vessels'.
The work of the project will also be part of a new BBC 2 series 'Britain's Heritage Heroes' to be launched in February 2012.
For further information about the project,please see our new dedicated website- www.lerretproject.org.uk
Or contact Lyme Regis Museum-tel 01297444463
