Culbone

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Culbone
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Culbone
Location within Somerset
OS grid reference SS842482
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town MINEHEAD
Postcode district TA24
Dialling code 01643
Police Avon and Somerset
Fire Devon and Somerset
Ambulance South Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Somerset
51°13′16″N3°39′32″W / 51.221°N 3.659°W / 51.221; -3.659 Coordinates: 51°13′16″N3°39′32″W / 51.221°N 3.659°W / 51.221; -3.659

Culbone (also called Kitnor) is a hamlet consisting of little more than the parish church and a few houses, in the 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.

Contents

The village is situated in a sheltered spot, near the coast of Porlock Bay. The slopes behind the village rise to the height of 1,200 feet (366 m), over which a small stream falls down to the sea. [1]

The South West Coast Path goes through the village, parts of which were closed and diverted in February 2007 following landslips in the woods. [2] The woods around the village are home to the rare Sorbus vexans , a microspecies of self-cloning Sorbus trees which are only found in the coastal area between Culbone and Trentishoe in Devon. It is amongst the rarest trees in Britain. [3] Other Whitebeam and Rowan species found in the area include; Sorbus subcuneata, Sorbus ‘Taxon D’ and Sorbus aucuparia. [4]

History

Culbone Stone The Culbone Stone - geograph.org.uk - 1239561.jpg
Culbone Stone

Culbone was listed in the Domesday book as Kytenore, [5] or Chetnore. [6] The name "Culbone" is thought to derive from the Celtic cil beun' for "Church of St Beuno". [7]

The Culbone Stone, an early mediaeval standing stone approximately one metre in height. It lies in woodland close to the parish boundary, and features an incised wheeled cross, the style of which suggests it dates from 7th to 9th century. The stone is legally protected as a scheduled ancient monument. [8] It has been suggested that the stone has been moved from its original site as part of the Culbone Hill Stone Row. [9]

In the 14th century Culbone's steep woods were used as a colony for French prisoners, and again in 1720 as a prison colony. [10] The woods were once the site of a major charcoal burning industry, the original burners for which were reputed to be a colony of lepers. [11] Although the lepers were not allowed into the village, there is a small leper window in the north wall of the church. [10]

Culbone was a civil parish until 1933 when, because of the small population (43 in 1931) it was merged into the parish of Oare. [12]

Culbone Cottage, Culbone Lodge, and the Parsonage Farmhouse are all Grade II listed buildings.

Church

Culbone Church Culbonechurch.jpg
Culbone Church

Culbone Church is said to be the smallest parish church in England. [13] The chancel is 13.5 feet (4.1 m) × 10 feet (3.0 m), the nave 21.5 feet (6.6 m) × 12.33 feet (3.8 m) and the building has a total length of 35 feet (10.7 m). [14] It seats about 30 and is dedicated to St Beuno. Services are still held there, despite the lack of road access. The church is probably pre-Norman in origin, with a 13th-century porch, and late 15th-century nave. It was refenestrated and reroofed around 1810 and the spirelet added in 1888. It underwent further restoration in 1928. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. [15]

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Person from Porlock is believed to have disturbed Samuel Taylor Coleridge during his composition of the oriental poem Kubla Khan . Coleridge was living at Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey (between Bridgwater and Minehead). Coleridge later stated he wrote the poem at Brimstone Farm, though no such farm has ever existed. It is likely that this encounter took place while he was staying at either Broomstreet Farm or Ash Farm near Culbone. [16] [17] It is also possible that Coleridge composed the poem at the Culbone Parsonage near to Ash Farm, now a collection of holiday cottages. [18]

Related Research Articles

Exmoor area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England

Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. Exmoor is more precisely defined as the area of the former ancient royal hunting forest, also called Exmoor, which was officially surveyed 1815–1818 as 18,810 acres (7,610 ha) in extent. The moor has given its name to a National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and 55 km (34 mi) of the Bristol Channel coast. The total area of the Exmoor National Park is 692.8 km2 (267.5 sq mi), of which 71% is in Somerset and 29% in Devon.

Person from Porlock

The person from Porlock was an unwelcome visitor to Samuel Taylor Coleridge during his composition of the poem Kubla Khan in 1797. Coleridge claimed to have perceived the entire course of the poem in a dream, but was interrupted by this visitor from Porlock while in the process of writing it. Kubla Khan, only 54 lines long, was never completed. Thus "person from Porlock", "man from Porlock", or just "Porlock" are literary allusions to unwanted intruders who disrupt inspired creativity.

West Somerset Non-metropolitan district in England

West Somerset was a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The council covered a largely rural area, with a population of 34,900 in an area of 740 square kilometres (290 sq mi); it was the least populous non-unitary district in England. According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics in 2009, the population of West Somerset has the oldest average age in the United Kingdom at 52. The largest centres of population are the coastal towns of Minehead and Watchet (4,400).

Porlock Human settlement in England

Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, 5 miles (8 km) west of Minehead. It has a population of 1,440.

Brendon Human settlement in England

Brendon is a village in Devon, England, close to the border with Somerset within the Exmoor National Park. The village is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Lynton and 15 miles (24 km) west of Minehead in the East Lyn Valley. It is located just off the A39 and is on two long distance footpaths, the Coleridge Way and the Samaritans Way South West. The Church of St Brendon is 2 mi (3 km) from the village and was built in 1738, possibly with building material brought from another site.

Holnicote Estate

Holnicote in the parish of Selworthy, West Somerset, England, is a historic estate consisting of 12,420 acres of land, much situated within the Exmoor National Park.

Porlock Weir Human settlement in England

Porlock Weir, about 1.5 miles west of the inland village of Porlock, Somerset, England, is a small settlement around a harbour. Porlock means place of the port and Porlock Weir is its harbour. Weir refers to salmon stakes and traps that were situated along the shore. It is a popular visitor attraction.

Oare, Somerset Human settlement in England

Oare is a village and civil parish on Oare Water on Exmoor in the Somerset West and Taunton district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Oareford and the village of Culbone which contains its own tiny church.

Winsford, Somerset Human settlement in England

Winsford is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, located about 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Dulverton.

Luccombe, Somerset Human settlement in England

Luccombe or Luckham is a village and civil parish in the Exmoor National Park in the English county of Somerset. It at the foot of the moor's highest hill, the 1,750 feet (533 m) Dunkery Beacon, and is about one mile south of the A39 road between Porlock and Minehead. Administratively it forms part of the district of Somerset West and Taunton. The parish includes the hamlets of Stoke Pero and Horner, as well as the former hamlet of Wilmersham.

Culbone Church Church in England

Culbone Church, located in the village of Culbone in Somerset, is said to be the smallest parish church in England. The church, dedicated to the Welsh saint Beuno, has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building and the churchyard cross is Grade II*.

Blackford, Somerset Human settlement in England

Blackford is a village and former civil parish in the county of Somerset, England, beside the A303 road, 4 miles (6.4 km) south west of Wincanton in the South Somerset district. There are two other places called Blackford in Somerset: one is a village near Wedmore, the other a tiny hamlet in Selworthy parish between Porlock and Minehead.

Coleridge Way

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

Roadwater 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.

Selworthy Human settlement in England

Selworthy is a small village and civil parish 5 kilometres (3 mi) from Minehead in Somerset, England. It is located in the National Trust's Holnicote Estate on the northern fringes of Exmoor. The parish includes the hamlets of Bossington, Tivington, Lynch, Brandish Street and Allerford.

Selworthy Beacon

Selworthy Beacon is a hill and Marilyn of Exmoor in Somerset, England. It lies within the boundaries of Exmoor National Park, to the north of the village of Selworthy and northwest of Minehead. A road leads to the top, where there is a National Trust plaque and a view of the south coast of Wales across the Bristol Channel. The South West Coast Path also climbs the hill and ends slightly shy of the summit.

Culbone Stone

The Culbone Stone, an early mediaeval standing stone, is close to Culbone in the English county of Somerset. The stone is made from Hangman grit, a local sandstone, and has a wheeled ring cross carved into it. The stone has been scheduled as an ancient monument.

Church of St Mary, Oare

The Anglican Church of St Mary in Oare, Somerset, England was built in the 15th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.

West Somerset was a local government district in the English county of Somerset. It merged with Taunton Deane to form Somerset West and Taunton on 1 April 2019.

References

  1. ↑ "Culbone, Somerset". GENUKI. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  2. ↑ "Culbone Woods access restricted". Exmoor National Park. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  3. ↑ "Britain's eleven rarest trees". UK Tree Council. Archived from the original on 31 July 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  4. ↑ Chester, Michael; Robyn S. Cowan; Michael F. Fay; Tim C. G. Rich (July 2007). "Parentage of endemic Sorbus L. (Rosaceae) species in the British Isles: evidence from plastid DNA". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 154 (3): 291–304. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2007.00669.x .
  5. ↑ Savage, James (1830). History of the Hundred of Carhampton. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green.
  6. ↑ Robinson, Stephen (1992). Somerset Place Names. Wimborne, Dorset: Dovecote Press. ISBN   1-874336-03-2.
  7. ↑ St Beuno's Church, Culbone, leaflet on the history of the church, no author, no publisher, no date, page 4; leaflet acquired on site, 4 February 2011
  8. ↑ "Culbone Stone". Megalithic Portal. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  9. ↑ "Culbone Stone". The Modern Antiquarian. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  10. 1 2 Jenkins, S. (2000), England's Thousand Best Churches, Penguin Books, ISBN   978-0-141-03930-5
  11. ↑ "Culbone". Everything Exmoor. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  12. ↑ "Culbone". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  13. ↑ "Parish Churches". Somerset County archives. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  14. ↑ "Culbone". Minehead Online. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  15. ↑ Historic England. "Culbone church (1058037)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  16. ↑ Bishop, Morchard (10 May 1957). "The Farmhouse of Kubla Khan". Times Literary Supplement.
  17. ↑ Lively, Penelope (18 September 1994). "Exmoors rural ways and byways". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  18. ↑ "Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)". Representative Poetry Online. Archived from the original on 16 October 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
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