Forest of Lyme

Coordinates: 53°22′08″N 1°59′35″W / 53.369°N 1.993°W / 53.369; -1.993 The Forest of Lyme (pronounced "Lime") is a former forest in the present day counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire and parts of Derbyshire. Parts of the forest remain and its name is preserved in many local place names.

Location and toponymy

The Forest of Lyme was a historic tract of forest land stretching from Ashton-under-Lyne all the way roughly along Cheshire's border to the town of Audlem on the Cheshire/Shropshire border. Macclesfield Forest is a part of it which remains, although most of it now consists of non-native conifers. It takes in the modern towns and villages of Ashton-under-Lyne, Macclesfield, Lyme, Congleton, Madeley, Newcastle-under-Lyme and others.

It is found in early records of the Honour of Lancaster which refer to those parts of the honour outside Lancashire as being "extra Limam" i.e. beyond the Lyme. Lyme Handley is recorded as "Lyme" in 1313. The name is derived from a British word for elm which is also the word from which Welsh "llwyf" is derived.