CYRIL WANKLIN & THE COURT BOOKS
Note from Graham Davies Jan 2022:
Cyril Wanklyn, aged 56, came to live at Timber Hill, Lyme Regis in 1920.
As to who he was, I can do no better than quote from Richard Bull’s paper, ‘People of Lyme 3: Cyril Wanklyn – Historian of Lyme (Lyme Regis Museum website):
Cyril Wanklyn (1864-1943) was, without doubt, one of Lyme’s greatest historians, ranking with the two other greats, George Roberts (1804-1860) and John Fowles (1926-2005)……….. Single-handedly Wanklyn saved the town’s ancient records from oblivion, having them translated, summarised and bound [Court Books & Calendars]. He popularised their contents in a regular newspaper column, published in book form shortly after his death [Lyme Leaflets]. Like John Fowles, he was curator of the Lyme Regis Museum and put his own resources into it. For his devotion to Lyme’s history he received the Freedom of the Borough in 1938