The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Valley Railway
Victorian lift offers water-powered ups and downs.
In partnership with:
Overview
TV reporter Clive Gunnell is on the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway in North Devon. The water-powered funicular railway is unique and run using water from the nearby River Lyn and travelling up and down between Lynton five hundred feet up on the top of the cliff and the harbour village of Lynmouth. The two cable cars use gravity and water tanks to move up and down. The lift displaces water only if its needs to becuase it is also dependent on the weight of its passengers!
Fortuitously enshrined in law is the right to refill the water tanks because the lift works on a total loss system whereby water is released and not reused. The railway began operating by 1890 and was designed by engineer and follower of Brunel, George Croyden Marks and paid for largely by the publisher Sir George Newnes, in part responsible for introducing popular journalism.The picturesque coastline became popular in Georgian and Victorian times when paddle steamers arrived from Bristol and South Wales and the area retains much of its latter day charm. In 1952 torrential rain caused the West and East Lyn rivers to break their banks and twenty-eight lives were lost at Lynmouth and Barbrook.
Related
Watch for free
Lynton and Lynmouth Holiday Lynton and Lynmouth Holiday
Home movie 1935 10 mins Silent Location: Lynton
Political uncertainty at home and abroad roots holidays at home.
Watch for free
John Doyle in Lynton and Lynmouth John Doyle in Lynton and Lynmouth
News 1971 5 mins Location: Lynton
John Doyle is in this special report on the summer season and arrives in Lynton and Lynmouth.
Watch for free
Lynton and Lynmouth Lynton and Lynmouth
1921 12 mins Silent Location: Lynton
Could these holidaymakers have imagined the violent potential of an idyllic Devon landscape?
Watch for free
The Lynton Light Railway The Lynton Light Railway
Amateur film 1935 5 mins Silent Location: Lynton
A trip from Exeter to see the Lynton Light Railway in the year of its closure
Watch for free
Lynmouth Floods' Anniversary Lynmouth Floods' Anniversary
Current affairs 1977 5 mins Location: Lynton
The 25th Anniversary of the Lynton and Lynmouth Flood
Watch for free
British Deaf Association Summer School, Exeter (1957) British Deaf Association Summer School, Exeter (1957)
Non-Governmental Organisations sponsored film 1957 25 mins Silent Location: Exeter
A trip up Lynton & Lynmouth’s stunning water-powered railway is one of the highlights the British Deaf Association’s trip to Exeter in the 1950s.
Watch for free
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Watch for free
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Watch for free
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Watch for free
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.