Saxon Window in Culbone Church - geograph

Culbone Church, located in the village of Culbone in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, is said to be the smallest parish church in England. The church, dedicated to the Welsh saint Beuno, 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, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and the churchyard cross is Grade II*. The church is recorded 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

. The church seats about 30 people, the

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

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 . Services are still held there, despite the lack of access by road. The church is probably pre-Norman in origin, with a 13th-century

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

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. Joan D'Arcy Cooper, psychologist,

Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

teacher, author of ''Guided Meditation and the Teaching of Jesus'', and wife of the potter

Waistel Cooper Waistel Cooper (19 April 1921 – 15 January 2003) was a British studio potter. Biography Cooper was born in Ayr, Scotland and initially studied painting at Hospitalfield School of Art during 1937 and 1938. At Hospitalfield, Waistel was taugh ...

, was organist at the church and is buried in the graveyard. The graveyard also contains a

war grave A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of a soldier of the

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V. ...

of World War II. Sir

David Calcutt Sir David Charles Calcutt, QC (2 November 1930 – 11 August 2004) was an eminent barrister and public servant, knighted in 1991. He was the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge from 1985 to 1994. He was also responsible for the creation ...

QC, a barrister and public servant, is buried in the churchyard too.

Interior and exterior features

The nave has retained its box pews, including a Jacobean squire's pew for the now ruined Ashley Combe House. The tall proportion of the nave and the primitive bowl font suggests 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.

Access

The 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 "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".

In media

In a television version of ''

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by English author Richard Doddridge Blackmore, published in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly ar ...

'', St Beuno's was used as the location for the marriage of John Ridd at Oare Church. The church is featured briefly in the video for

Mike and the Mechanics Mike and the Mechanics (stylised as Mike + The Mechanics) is an English rock supergroup formed in Dover in 1985 by Mike Rutherford, initially as a side project during a hiatus period for his earlier group Genesis. The band is known for hit si ...

' 1988 hit song "

The Living Years "The Living Years" is a soft rock ballad written by B. A. Robertson and Mike Rutherford, and recorded by Rutherford's British rock band Mike + The Mechanics. It was released in December 1988 in the United Kingdom and in the United States a ...

". A 2016 BBC television series ''Coastal Path'', about the South West Coast Path, includes a visit to the church.

References

{{cite book , last=Layley , first=Charles G , year=1985 , title=St. Beuno's Culbone "The smallest complete Parish Church in England{{"- , location=Barnstaple , publisher=Aycliffe Press Ltd., on behalf of Culbone Parochial Church Council , asin=B008LP8HRO , asin-tld=co.uk

External links

Culbone Church website

at minehead-online.co Churches in Somerset Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset Grade II* listed buildings in West Somerset

Interior and exterior features

Access

In media

See also

References

External links