A unique heritage project has been launched this year,led by Lyme Regis Museum and boat builder Gail McGarva in celebration of the lerret, a fishing boat wholly native to the Chesil Beach, dating back to 1615.The ‘Lerret Project’ shares the stories of this historic vessel through a series of community events, an oral history project and the creation of an archive of documents and photographs.
In 2009 Gail McGarva won a scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust to build a lerret based on the ‘lines’ of one of the last seaworthy lerrets, ‘Vera’ of 1923. The building of this new generation lerret sought not only to preserve a boat in grave danger of extinction but also to preserve the art of boatbuilding ‘by eye’, building without the use of designer drawings or construction plans.
The new lerret named ‘Littlesea’ was launched in 2010 and she and her motherboat Vera are at the heart of this heritage project.

Thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund, the ‘Lerret Project’ enables people all along the coast to learn about and enjoy the stories of this unique vessel and its Dorset fishing communities.

For further information-contact

Lyme Regis Museum - Tel: 01297 444463