Porlock

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Porlock is a quiet coastal village in Somerset, England, situated in a deep hollow below Exmoor, five miles west of Minehead. The village has a population of 1,377 (2002 estimate). It adjoins a Porlock Ridge and Saltmarsh nature reserve created when the lowland behind a high shingle embankment was breached by the sea in the 1990s, which has now been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Copses of white dead trees remind the visitor of when this was fresh water pasture.

A picturesque, wooded combe called Hawkcombe leads about three miles from the village up to high open moorland. The stream from Hawkcombe runs underground beneath the Overstream Hotel in the center of the village.

The South West Coast Path goes through Porlock, many walkers stopping rather than continuing on the gargantuan walk to Lynton. There is also a Coleridge Way walk.

Culbone church is said to be the smallest church in England. The main structure is 12th century. Services are still held there, despite the lack of road access - it is a two-mile walk from Porlock Weir.

A new toll road bypasses the 1-in-4 gradient on Porlock Hill. There is an ancient stone circle on the hill.

The area has links with several Romantic poets, and R. D. Blackmore the author of Lorna Doone.

[edit] The "Person from Porlock"

The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who lived nearby at Nether Stowey (between Bridgwater and Minehead), was interrupted during composition of his poem Kubla Khan by a "person from Porlock", and found afterward he could not remember what had come to him in a dream.

Coleridge and Wordsworth (who lived nearby at Alfoxden) would often roam the hills and coast on long night walks; leading to local gossip that they were 'spies' for the French. The Government sent an agent to investigate, but found they were, indeed, "mere poets". Their friend Robert Southey had published a poem titled "Porlock" in 1798.

[edit] Words to Jerusalem

Legend has it that the area beyond Culbone towards Lynmouth where Glenthorne is now situated is where Jesus may have alighted on a trip with Joseph of Arimathea. This is said to have inspired the words to William Blake's famous poem, Jerusalem:

"And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the Holy Lamb of God On England’s pleasant pastures seen? And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark satanic mills?"