Culbone Church, located in the village of Culbone in Somerset, is said to be the smallest parish church in England.[2] The church, dedicated to the Welsh saint Beuno, has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building[3] and the churchyard cross is Grade II*.
| St Beuno's Church, Culbone | |
|---|---|
 | |
  St Beuno's Church, Culbone Culbone within Somerset | |
| 51°13′17″N 3°39′32″W / 51.2213°N 3.6590°W | |
| OS grid reference | SS842482 |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England[1] |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Dedication | St Beuno |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 35 feet (11 m) |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Bath & Wells |
| Parish | Porlock |
History
editThe church is recorded in the Domesday Book.[4] The church is probably pre-Norman in origin, with a 13th-century porch and a late-15th-century nave. It was refenestrated and re-roofed around 1810 and the spirelet added in 1888. It underwent further restoration in 1928.[5]
Joan D'Arcy Cooper, psychologist, Yoga teacher, author of Guided Meditation and the Teaching of Jesus,[6] and wife of the potter Waistel Cooper, was organist at the church and is buried in the graveyard.[7] The graveyard also contains a war grave of a soldier of the Welsh Guards of World War II.[8] Sir David Calcutt QC, a barrister and public servant, is buried in the churchyard.
Services are still held despite the lack of access by road.
Architecture
editThe interior scale and decoration suggest Anglo-Saxon origins. The east end is restored. There is a small window, carved from a single block of sandstone, outside the north wall of the chancel, with a face on top of the pillar dividing the two window lights. This is probably also Saxon.[9]
The nave has box pews, including a Jacobean squire's pew for the occupier of Ashley Combe House.[9] The church can seat about thirty people. The chancel is 13.5 × 10 feet (4.1 × 3.0 m), the nave 21.5 × 12.33 feet (6.6 × 3.8 m) and the building has a total length of 35 feet (10.7 m).[10]
Access
editThe church is passed by the South West Coast Path, but drivers must turn off the A39 opposite the village pub, and park where possible on the narrow track. There is then a walk of 1.5 miles (2.4 km) described by Simon Jenkins as "through steep woods of walnut and oak, glorious on a summer's day with the sea glinting through the trees, darkly mysterious and dripping with water in winter".[9]
In media
editThe church has been used for filming including a television version of Lorna Doone;[11] the video for Mike and the Mechanics' 1988 song "The Living Years",[12] and 2016 BBC television series Coastal Path, with Paul Rose.[13]
See also
edit- Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset
- List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells
References
edit- ^ "St Beuno, Culbone". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- ^ "Parish Churches". Somerset County Archives. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ "Culbone church". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ Scott, Hamish (16 November 1996). "Hidden hamlet of Exmoor:country". The Independent. London.
- ^ Historic England. "Culbone Church (1058037)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- ^ Cooper, J. D., Guided Meditation and the Teaching of Jesus. Salisbury: Element Books. (Reissue Edition) 30 November 1982.
- ^ Malcolm Welshman (4 November 2011). "A tiny church called Culbone, near Porlock". somerset-life.co.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
- ^ "Ricketts, William Charles". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
- ^ a b c Jenkins, Simon (2000). England's Thousand Best Churches. Penguin Books. pp. 689–690. ISBN 978-0-141-03930-5.
- ^ "Culbone – Kitnor". Minehead Online. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ "Walk – Culbone Church and the Fairytale Tunnels". South West Coast Path. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
- ^ Davis, Mick; Lassman, David (30 March 2020). Visitors' Historic Britain: Somerset: Romans to Victorians. Pen and Sword History. ISBN 9781526706195 – via Google Books.
- ^ "BBC One – Coastal Path – Hidden Treasures of the South West Coast Path". BBC.
Layley, Charles G (1985). St. Beuno's Culbone "The smallest complete Parish Church in England". Barnstaple: Aycliffe Press Ltd., on behalf of Culbone Parochial Church Council. ASIN B008LP8HRO.
External links
edit- Culbone Church website
- Culbone Church, Porlock at minehead-online.co