Porlock
Porlock | |
---|---|
Avon and Somerset | |
Fire | Devon and Somerset |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Website |
Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, 5 miles (8 km) west of Minehead. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,440.[1]
In 2017, Porlock had the highest percentage of elderly population in Britain,[2] with over 40% being of pensionable age as of 2010.[3]
History
East of the village is
There is evidence for 10th or 11th century origin for the name Porlock as Portloc or Portloca meaning enclosure by the harbour, from the Old English port and loca,[4] and in the Domesday Book the village was known as "Portloc".[5] In 914 the Vikings plundered Porlock.[6]
Porlock was part of the
The area has links with several Romantic poets, and R. D. Blackmore, the author of Lorna Doone, and is popular with visitors. The visitor centre has exhibits and displays about the local area. Also on display are the bones of an aurochs, discovered on Porlock beach in 1999.[8]
Governance
The
The village falls within the
As Porlock falls within the
Porlock has an
It is also part of the
Geography
The village adjoins the
A stream flows down a wooded combe called Hawkcombe leads about three miles (5 km) from the village up to high open moorland. The stream, called "Hawkcombe Waters", runs past a Victorian hunting lodge, called The Cleeve, then underground beneath the Overstream Hotel in the centre of the village.
The South West Coast Path goes through Porlock, many walkers stopping rather than continuing the long walk to Lynton. There is also a 'Coleridge Way' walk.
Culbone Church is said to be the smallest church in England.[13] The main structure is 12th century. Services are still held there, despite the lack of road access – Culbone is a two-mile (3 km) walk from Porlock Weir, and some 3–4 miles (about 6 km) from Porlock itself.
A toll road bypasses the 1 in 4 gradient on Porlock Hill. There is the prehistoric Porlock Stone Circle on the hill.[14]
Submerged forest
At low tide the remains of a submerged forest can be seen on Porlock Beach. The area was several miles inland until the sea level in the Bristol Channel rose about 7000 to 8000 years ago.[15]
Church
The Church of St Dubricius dates from the 13th century. The spire was damaged in a storm of 1703.[5] The church has been designated as a grade I listed building.[16] Within the church is a 15th-century tomb of John Harrington who fought alongside Henry V in France in 1417.[17]
Cultural references
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2022) |
"Person on business from Porlock"
In 1797, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who lived nearby at Nether Stowey (between Bridgwater and Minehead), but — due to illness — had "retired to a lonely farm house between Porlock and Lynton",[18] was interrupted during composition of his poem Kubla Khan by "a person on business from Porlock", and claimed he found afterwards he could not remember what had come to him in a dream.
Coleridge and
William Blake
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 a passage from William Blake's famous poem, Milton:
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?— Milton, William Blake
Other cultural references
A song, titled "Another one from Porlock", is found on the Penguin Cafe Orchestra album Union Cafe. In Iris Murdoch's "Bruno's Dream", Miles admonishes Diana for porlocking while he is trying to receive poetic inspiration.
The Song "13 Miles" by the punk folk band Skinny Lister details the story of the 1899 Lynmouth lifeboat launch from Porlock; where a lifeboat had to be carried 13 miles over the moor due to poor weather conditions at Lynmouth Lifeboat Station. The launch saved all 18 souls stranded at sea.
Notable person
- Michael McMaster (1896–1965), cricketer and Royal Naval Air Service officer
Bibliography
- Hook, Rev. Walter, The History of the Ancient Church of Porlock and of the Patron Saint St Dubricius and his Times. (The author was rector of Porlock)
- Halliday, Mrs. M. The Porlock Monuments. (The author lived at Glenthorne, Porlock)
- Chadwyck Healey, C. The Ports of West Somerset.
- Grimble, Ian. The Harington Family.
References
- ^ a b "Statistics for Wards, LSOAs and Parishes — SUMMARY Profiles" (Excel). Somerset Intelligence. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ Moss, Stephen (9 December 2017). "'Older people have pulled up the ladder': inside England's oldest and youngest towns | Inequality | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ^ Ramesh, Randeep (26 May 2010). "People in rural areas live longer, says study". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
- ^ "History of Porlock Weir". Retrieved 30 August 2016.
- ^ a b Farr, Grahame (1954). Somerset Harbours. London: Christopher Johnson. p. 154.
- ^ Lewis, Stephen M. "Óttar's Story – A Dublin Viking in Brittany, England and Ireland, A.D. 902-918".
- ^ "Carhampton Hundred". Domesday Map. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ^ "Porlock Visitor Centre". Everything Exmor. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
- ^ "Williton RD". A vision of Britain Through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ "The Authority". Exmoor National Park. Archived from the original on 24 December 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
- ^ "Exmoor National Park NMP". English Heritage. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
- ^ "Porlock and District ward 2011". Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ "Parish Churches". Somerset County archives. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
- ^ "Porlock Circle". megalithic.co.uk. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
- ^ "Geological features". Exmoor National Park. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Dubricius (1173524)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
- ISBN 0-906456-98-3.
- ^ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel, Kubla Khan, and the Pains of Sleep, 2nd edition, William Bulmer, London, 1816. Reproduced in The Complete Poems, ed. William Keach, Penguin Books, 2004.