Ottery St Mary

This page is one of those to enable the Friends to share activities and opinions from different places where Coleridge lived and worked. Do please email us (tsackett@btinternet.com) with information about forthcoming events and articles which you might wish to share. As time goes on we will build a picture of the impact and influences these special places had on Coleridge’s life and thought. So do please send us material to start the ball rolling.

ottery birthplace

Coleridge's birthplace, Ottery St Mary, Devon

1772 Samuel Taylor Coleridge born on 21 October at Ottery St Mary, Devon.

1778 Joins Ottery Grammar School.

1781 Death of Coleridge's father.

1782 Enters Christ's Hospital.

1788 Made a Grecian (top scholar) at Christ's Hospital in London.

STC plaque

The Coleridge plaque on the south side of the church wall at Ottery St Mary

Help fund the Ottery Coleridge sculpture by acquiring this beautiful Coleridge Commemorative Coin

medal single face

The Ottery St Mary Coleridge Memorial Trust and its patrons have produced a beautiful commemorative coin to mark the beginnings of a fundraising effort for the planned sculpture of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the parish churchyard.

The coin is 50mm (2 inches) in diameter and finely worked with a portrait of Coleridge in silver and aquamarine on one face and the Ancient Mariner’s ship on the other. Just 250 copies have been struck in recognition of the 250th anniversary of Coleridge’s birthday in 2022.

It is the CMT’s hope that the funding will be complete and the sculpture in place by the time the anniversary celebrations take place.

The coin comes in a protective, snap-shut plastic cover contained in a royal blue presentation case. If you’ve been looking for a timeless Ottery St Mary keepsake, or simply a unique item, this is highly collectible.

commemorative medal

To find out more and to order your coin, visit http://www.coleridgememorial.org.uk/fundraising

The proposed Coleridge Sculpture

STC maquette

We appointed Nicholas Dimbleby as our sculptor, and in 2016 commissioned a maquette as a study for the final work. We plan from this a life-size figure cast in bronze that will stand on a low plinth with a bronze plaque on the front face. It will be inscribed with several lines from Coleridge’s poem ‘Frost at Midnight’ that refers to the church tower beneath which the sculpture will be situated,

‘With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt
Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower,
Whose bells, the poor man’s only music, rang
From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day’

We anticipate that the entire project will cost in the region of £100,000. The limited edition of Coleridge Commemorative Medals is a vital part of our fundraising campaign.

Latest News

Coleridge Conference 2024, 29 July-2 Aug, Grasmere

Coleridge Conference 2024, 29 July-2 Aug, Grasmere