Coleridge's 250th Birthday Anniversary and Statue

Friday 21st November 2022 marked the 250th anniversary of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s birth. Amongst the events held to commemorate the life and works of the Romantic poet was the unveiling of Nicholas Dimbleby's statue of Coleridge, funded by the Coleridge Memorial Trust.

The life-size bronze statue, the culmination of a ten-year project, was unveiled by Dr John Pilsworth, vice chair of the Trust and Richard Coleridge, a  great-great-great-great grandson of the poet, at St Mary’s Church in Ottery, Devon, the place of Coleridge's birth.

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The statue depicts Coleridge standing with his notebook in hand, gazing from the churchyard towards the site of the schoolhouse where he was born.

Included by the statue is a plaque which reads, ‘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…’

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Members of the Friends of Coleridge were present for the unveiling of the statue at Ottery St Mary. The event was a rousing success!

A video of the unveiling of the statue is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTjgvlk8KfY&ab_channel=WilliamJamesRIDER

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