Culbone (also called Kitnor) is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

consisting of little more than the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

and a few houses, in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Oare in the Exmoor National Park,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. As there is no road access it is a two-mile walk from Porlock Weir, and some four miles from

Porlock Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, west of Minehead. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,440. In 2017, Porlock had the highest percentage of elderly population in England, with over 40% being of pensionable ...

itself. The village is situated in a sheltered spot, near the coast of Porlock Bay. The slopes behind the village rise to the height of , over which a small stream falls down to the sea. The

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

goes through the village, parts of which were closed and diverted in February 2007 following landslips in the woods. The woods around the village are home to the rare '' Sorbus vexans'', a microspecies of self-cloning

Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' ('' s.str.'') are commonly known as rowan or mountain-ash. The genus used to include species commonly known as whitebeam, cheque ...

trees which are only found in the coastal area between Culbone and Trentishoe in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. It is amongst the rarest trees in Britain. Other

Whitebeam The whitebeams are members of the family Rosaceae, tribe Malinae, comprising a number of deciduous simple or lobe-leaved species formerly lumped together within ''Sorbus'' s.l. Many whitebeams are the result of extensive intergeneric hybridisa ...

and

Rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

species found in the area include; ''Sorbus subcuneata'', ''Sorbus ‘Taxon D’'' and ''Sorbus aucuparia''.

History

Culbone was listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as Kytenore, or Chetnore. The name "Culbone" is thought to derive from the Celtic ''cil beun for "Church of St Beuno". The

Culbone Stone The Culbone Stone, an early Middle Ages, mediaeval standing stone, is close to Culbone in the English county of Somerset. The stone is made from Hangman Grits, Hangman grit, a local sandstone, and has a wheeled ring cross carved into it. The ston ...

, an early

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

standing stone approximately one metre in height, 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 In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. It has been suggested that the stone has been moved from its original site as part of the Culbone Hill Stone Row. In the 14th century Culbone's steep woods were used as a colony for French prisoners, and again in 1720 as a prison colony.Jenkins, S. (2000), ''England's Thousand Best Churches'',

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, The woods were once the site of a major

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

burning industry, the original burners for which were reputed to be a colony of

lepers Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

. Although the lepers were not allowed into the village, there is a small leper window in the north wall of the church. In 1931 the parish had a population of 43. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Oare. Culbone Cottage, Culbone Lodge, and the Parsonage Farmhouse are all Grade II

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Church

Culbone Church is said to be the smallest parish church in England. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

is × , the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

× and the building has a total length of . 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

. 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 English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The " person on business from Porlock" is believed to have disturbed

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

during his composition of the oriental poem ''

Kubla Khan "Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream" () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to "Kub ...

''. Coleridge was living at Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey (between

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

and

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

). 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. It is also possible that Coleridge composed the poem at the Culbone

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

near Ash Farm, now a collection of holiday cottages.

References

External links

* * * {{West Somerset Villages in West Somerset Exmoor Populated coastal places in Somerset Former civil parishes in Somerset