Lympstone Harbour is the property of the Lympstone Fishery & Harbour Association (LFHA).  The property is managed and administered on a day-to-day basis by volunteer members who are elected to the Harbour Board, the executive arm of the Association.

Locals and visitors alike are welcome as pedestrians to enjoy the property, which also includes the foreshore throughout Lympstone, and the fundus or moorings.  A pathway between boats is maintained for pedestrians wishing to walk north from the Harbour when the tide allows.  Only boat owners may go amongst the boats.  The Harbour is on occasion closed to the public by the Board, when for instance large vessels are lifted between the hardstanding and the Brook twice a year.

Dogs must be kept on a short lead and all droppings removed and are not permitted amongst the boats.

No vehicles, private, commercial or service, are permitted in the Harbour, which includes the slipway and the foreshore.   LFHA members’ vehicles may use the slipway whilst servicing their licensed vessels as long as drivers remain on site.

If you are a permanent Lympstone resident and wish to use our property for launching, storing or mooring a vessel, please review the FAQs before completing an LFHA Membership Application Form.  Use of LFHA property is independent of Sailing Club affiliation.

Already a Member? Click/Tap LFHA Members’ Login on the navigation.

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 can be found under “The LFHA“.

Colonel Graeme Wheeler, Chairman, LFHA

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