Coleridge Cottage

Last updated

Coleridge Cottage
Coleridge cottage.jpg
Coleridge Cottage at
35, Lime Street, Nether Stowey
Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Somerset and the United Kingdom
Established1998
Location Nether Stowey, Somerset
Coordinates 51°09′08″N3°09′28″W / 51.1522°N 3.1579°W / 51.1522; -3.1579
Website Coleridge Cottage information at the National Trust

Coleridge Cottage is a cottage situated in Nether Stowey, Bridgwater, Somerset, England. It is a grade II* listed building. [1] The 17th century cottage was originally two buildings which were later combined and expanded.

Contents

In 1797 the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge rented the cottage. While he lived there he wrote many of his better known works. He was visited by William Wordsworth and other early members of the Romantic movement. Coleridge moved out in 1799 and the building was refurbished. Almost 100 years after his occupation some of his admirers leased the property and eventually bought it, after a national campaign and significant private funding. In 1909 they handed it over to the National Trust who have run it as a writer's home museum since then. In the later 20th and early 21st centuries further renovation and expansion was undertaken. Since then, it has won awards as a tourist attraction.

The cottage is the starting point for the long-distance trail the Coleridge Way which runs west for 51-mile (82 km) to Lynmouth. [2]

History

The cottage when it was 'Moore's Coleridge Cottage Inn', around 1890 Cottage Moore.jpg
The cottage when it was 'Moore's Coleridge Cottage Inn', around 1890

The cottage was constructed in the 17th century as two attached buildings. One contained a parlour, kitchen and service room on the ground floor and three corresponding bed chambers above, [3] and an adjoining byre or barn. [1]

The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge rented the cottage for three years from 1797. As well as writing poetry he was a literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. It was while he was living in Nether Stowey that Coleridge wrote This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison , The Rime of the Ancient Mariner , part of Christabel , and Frost at Midnight . [4] While writing Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment , Coleridge was said to have been interrupted by the arrival of "a person on business from Porlock". It is unclear whether this really happened or was part of a dream but has become a literary allusion for unwanted intruders who disrupt inspired creativity. [5] During Coleridge's time at the house William Wordsworth visited him and subsequently rented Alfoxton Park, a little over 3 miles (4.8 km) away. [6] There are references to the cottage in several of Coleridge's poems, including To The Rev G Coleridge (lines 52–61), This Lime Tree Bower My Prison; Frost at Midnight; and Fears in Solitude (lines 221–226). [1]

The cottage was refurbished in 1800 and run as an inn. Further major work took place in the second half of the 19th century when rooms were added at the back of the building and the roof was raised. In 1893 a committee of Coleridge's admirers took a lease on the property for 15 years at £15 per annum, however by 1896 an appeal had been launched to try to raise more money for the lease or eventual purchase, [7] with the threat that it could be removed to America. [8] They installed the commemorative plaque on the wall which was unveiled on 9 June 1893. [9] By 1908 the campaign, chaired by the Earl of Lytton, had gained public support including that of the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and raised the funds needed to purchase the property. [10]

National Trust ownership

Commemorative plaque installed in 1893. Commemorative plaque - geograph.org.uk - 1766822.jpg
Commemorative plaque installed in 1893.

Having served for many years as 'Moore's Coleridge Cottage Inn', the building was acquired for the nation in 1908, and the following year it was handed over to the National Trust. [9] On 23 May 1998, following a £25,000 appeal by the Friends of Coleridge and the National Trust, two further rooms on the first floor were officially opened by Lord Coleridge a descendant of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In 2011 the National Trust undertook a major re-presentation project that also saw the opening of additional rooms. The oldest parts of the cottage are now presented as the Coleridge family might have known them, with the original inglenook fireplace in the parlour uncovered and working once more. [11] The garden was opened to visitors for the first time, complete with an 18th-century vegetable plot, a wildflower area and representations of Coleridge's animals. [12] It is possible to listen to poetry at audio posts around the garden and the well is operational once more and can be seen in the small courtyard behind the cottage. [13] A number of mementos of Coleridge are on display including his inkstand, locks of his hair and correspondence in his handwriting. [14]

In 2013 the cottage won 'Gold' in the 'Best Small Visitor Attraction' category at the South West Tourism Awards and in May 2014 won 'Silver' at the Visit England Awards in the same category. [15] [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Wordsworth</span> English Romantic poet (1770–1850)

William Wordsworth was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nether Stowey</span> Village in Somerset, England

Nether Stowey is a large village in Somerset, South West England. It sits in the foothills of the Quantock Hills, just below Over Stowey. The parish of Nether Stowey covers approximately 4 km2, with a population of 1,482.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1797.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantock Hills</span> Range of hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England

The Quantock Hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England, consist of heathland, oak woodlands, ancient parklands and agricultural land. They were England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, designated in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porlock</span> Human settlement in England

Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, 5 miles (8 km) west of Minehead. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,440.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Hartley Coleridge</span> British literary scholar and poet (1846–1920)

Ernest Hartley Coleridge (1846–1920) was a British literary scholar and poet. He was the son of Derwent Coleridge and grandson of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dove Cottage</span> House on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District of England

Dove Cottage is a house on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District of England. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth from December 1799 to May 1808, where they spent over eight years of "plain living, but high thinking". During this period, William wrote much of the poetry for which he is remembered today, including his "Ode: Intimations of Immortality", "Ode to Duty", "My Heart Leaps Up" and "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", together with parts of his autobiographical epic, The Prelude.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culbone</span> Human settlement in England

Culbone is a hamlet consisting of little more than the parish church and a few houses, in the civil parish of Oare in the Exmoor National Park, Somerset, England. As there is no road access it is a two-mile walk from Porlock Weir, and some four miles from Porlock itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleridge Way</span> Long-distance footpath in Somerset and Devon, England

The Coleridge Way is a 51-mile (82 km) long-distance trail in Somerset and Devon, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roadwater</span> Human settlement in England

Roadwater is a village 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Williton, on the northern edge of the Exmoor National Park, in Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfoxton House</span>

Alfoxton House, also known as Alfoxton Park or Alfoxden, is an 18th-century country house in Holford, Somerset, England, within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The present house was rebuilt in 1710 after the previous building was destroyed in a fire.

Fears in Solitude, written in April 1798, is one of the conversation poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem was composed while France threatened to invade Great Britain. Although Coleridge was opposed to the British government, the poem sides with the British people in a patriotic defense of their homeland. The poem also emphasizes a desire to protect one's family and to live a simple life in harmony with nature. The critical response to the poem was mixed, with some critics claiming that the work was "alarmist" and anti-British.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greta Hall</span>

Greta Hall is a house in Keswick in the Lake District of England. It is best known as the home of the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taunton Unitarian Chapel</span> Church in Somerset, England

Taunton Unitarian Chapel is on Mary Street, Taunton, Somerset, England. It was built in the early 18th century as a Baptist chapel, but later adopted Unitarianism. The exterior was extensively renovated in the 19th century in an Italianate style. The chapel has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Poole (tanner)</span>

Thomas Poole was a Somerset tanner, Radical philanthropist, and essayist, who used his wealth to improve the lives of the poor of Nether Stowey, his native village. He was a friend of several writers in the British Romantic movement, a benefactor of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his family, and an influence on the poems of Wordsworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kenyon (patron)</span> English patron of Robert Browning

John Kenyon (1784–1856) was an English verse-writer and philanthropist, now known as a patron of Robert Browning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Bank</span> House, built 1805, in Cumbria, England

Allan Bank is a grade II listed two-storey villa standing on high ground slightly to the west of Grasmere village in the heart of the Lake District. It is best known for being from 1808 to 1811 the home of William Wordsworth, but it was also occupied at various times by Dorothy Wordsworth, Dora Wordsworth, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Arnold, Matthew Arnold and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a co-founder of The National Trust. It is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3, The Grove, Highgate</span> Grade II* listed house in the London Borough of Camden, United Kingdom

3, The Grove, Highgate, in the London Borough of Camden, is a 17th-century house built by William Blake. In the 19th century it was home of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge; in the 20th, the novelist J. B. Priestley; and in the 21st, the model Kate Moss. It is a Grade II* listed building.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Coleridge's Cottage (1344921)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  2. "Long Distance Walkers Association Coleridge Way". www.ldwa.org.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  3. "Coleridge Cottage". Friends of Coleridge. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  4. "Walk The Coleridge Way". BBC Somerset. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  5. Osborne, Victor (6 July 2002). "Literary landscape: Coleridge's Somerset". Telegraph. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  6. Baggs, A.P.; Siraut, M. C. "Stringston". British History Online. Victoria County History. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  7. "Coleridge's Cottage" . Dover Express. British Newspaper Archive. 1 May 1896.
  8. "The Purchase of Coleridge's Cottage" . Morpeth Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 27 June 1908. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  9. 1 2 Miall, David S. (1991). "The Campaign to Acquire Coleridge Cottage". The Wordsworth Circle. 22 (1): 82–88. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  10. "Coleridge's Cottage" . Aberdeen Journal. British Newspaper Archive. 2 October 1907. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  11. Morris, Steven (9 September 2011). "Samuel Taylor Coleridge's cottage to reopen after revamp". Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  12. "Coleridge Cottage" (PDF). Somerset Routes. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  13. "Coleridge Cottage re-opens". National Trust. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  14. "Highlights from Coleridge Cottage, Somerset". National Trust Collections. National Trust. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  15. "2013/14 Winners". South West Tourism Awards. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  16. "The 2014 VisitEngland Awards 2014 Winners". Visit England. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.