Culbone
{{Short description|Hamlet in Somerset, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country = England
|coordinates = {{coord|51.221|-3.659|display=inline,title}}
|official_name= Culbone
|civil_parish= Oare
|population=
|unitary_england = Somerset
|lieutenancy_england = Somerset
|region= South West England
|constituency_westminster= Tiverton and Minehead
|post_town= MINEHEAD
|postcode_district = TA24
|postcode_area= TA
|dial_code= 01643
|os_grid_reference= SS842482
|static_image = Culbonechurch.jpg
|static_image_caption = Culbone Church
}}
Culbone (also called Kitnor) 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.
The village is situated in a sheltered spot, near the coast of Porlock Bay. The slopes behind the village rise to the height of {{convert|1200|ft|m|0}}, over which a small stream falls down to the sea.{{cite web |url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Culbone/index.html |title=Culbone, Somerset |accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=GENUKI }}
The South West Coast Path goes through the village, parts of which were closed and diverted in February 2007 following landslips in the woods.{{cite web|url=http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/print/index/news_2007/2007_feb_7.htm |title=Culbone Woods access restricted |accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=Exmoor National Park |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716113139/http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/print/index/news_2007/2007_feb_7.htm |archive-date=2011-07-16 }} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.treecouncil.org.uk/tnews/sorbus.htm |title=Britain's eleven rarest trees |accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=UK Tree Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070731093236/http://www.treecouncil.org.uk/tnews/sorbus.htm |archive-date=2007-07-31 |url-status=dead }} Other Whitebeam and Rowan species found in the area include; Sorbus subcuneata, Sorbus ‘Taxon D’ and Sorbus aucuparia.{{cite journal |last=Chester |first=Michael |author2=Robyn S. Cowan |author3=Michael F. Fay |author4=Tim C. G. Rich |date=July 2007 |title=Parentage of endemic Sorbus L. (Rosaceae) species in the British Isles: evidence from plastid DNA |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=154 |issue=3 |pages=291–304 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2007.00669.x |doi-access=free }}
History
File:The Culbone Stone - geograph.org.uk - 1239561.jpg
Culbone was listed in the Domesday Book as Kytenore,{{cite book |last=Savage |first= James|title=History of the Hundred of Carhampton |url=https://archive.org/details/historyhundredc01savagoog |year=1830 |publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green }} or Chetnore.{{cite book |last=Robinson |first= Stephen |title=Somerset Place Names |year=1992 |publisher=Dovecote Press |location=Wimborne, Dorset |isbn=1-874336-03-2 }} The name "Culbone" is thought to derive from the Celtic cil beun' for "Church of St Beuno".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
The Culbone Stone, an early mediaeval 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=4129 |title=Culbone Stone |accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=Megalithic Portal }} It has been suggested that the stone has been moved from its original site as part of the Culbone Hill Stone Row.{{cite web |url=http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/6805/culbone_stone.html |title= Culbone Stone|accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=The Modern Antiquarian }}
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, {{ISBN|978-0-141-03930-5}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/_C/Culbone.php |title=Culbone |accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=Everything Exmoor }} 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.{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10428014/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Culbone CP/AP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=18 May 2024}} On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Oare.{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10428014|title=Relationships and changes Culbone CP/AP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=18 May 2024}}
Culbone Cottage, Culbone Lodge, and the Parsonage Farmhouse are all Grade II listed buildings.
Church
{{main|Culbone Church}}
Culbone Church is said to be the smallest parish church in England.{{cite web |url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Parishchs.htm |title=Parish Churches |accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=Somerset County archives |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005191756/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Parishchs.htm |archive-date=2013-10-05 }} The chancel is {{convert|13.5|ft|m|1 }} × {{convert|10|ft|m|1}}, the nave
{{convert|21.5|ft|m|1}} × {{convert|12.33|ft|m|1}} and the building has a total length of {{convert|35|ft|m|1}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.minehead-online.co.uk/culbone.htm |title=Culbone |accessdate=2007-10-24 |work=Minehead Online }} 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.{{NHLE | desc= Culbone church | num=1058037 | accessdate=2007-10-24}}
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The "person on business 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.{{cite news |first=Morchard |last=Bishop |title= The Farmhouse of Kubla Khan |url=http://inamidst.com/stuff/notes/farmhouse=print |work=Times Literary Supplement |date=1957-05-10}}{{cite news |first=Penelope |last=Lively |title=Exmoors rural ways and byways |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/18/magazine/exmoor-s-rural-ways-and-byways.html?pagewanted=print |work=New York Times |date=1994-09-18 |accessdate=2007-10-24 }}
It is also possible that Coleridge composed the poem at the Culbone parsonage near Ash Farm, now a collection of holiday cottages.{{cite web|url=http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/524.html |title=Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) |publisher=Representative Poetry Online |accessdate=3 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016015906/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/524.html |archive-date=16 October 2009 }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Culbone}}
- {{NHLE |num=1345379 |desc=Culbone Cottage and retaining wall}}
- {{NHLE |num=1058038 |desc=Culbone Lodge and adjoining bridge over sunken road}}
- {{NHLE |num=1173315 |desc=Parsonage farmhouse}}
{{West Somerset}}
Category:Villages in West Somerset