Culbone Church located in the village of Culbone

Culbone

Culbone is a hamlet consisting of little more than the parish church and a few houses, in the parish of Oare in the Exmoor National Park, Somerset, England. As there is no road access it is a two-mile walk from Porlock Weir, and some four miles from Porlock itself.The village is situated in a...

 in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 is said to be the smallest church in England.

The church seats about 30 people, and the chancel is 13.5 feet (4.1 m) x 10 feet (3 m), the nave
21.5 feet (6.6 m) x 12.33 feet (3.8 m) and the building has a total length of 35 feet (10.7 m). 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, and late 15th century nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

. It was refenestrated and reroofed around 1810 and the spirelet added in 1888. It underwent further restoration in 1928.

It has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a grade I listed building and the churchyard cross is grade II* listed.

Joan D'Arcy Cooper, wife of the late potter Waistel Cooper, attended the church and is buried in the graveyard. In the television version of the Lorna Doone

Lorna Doone

Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor is a novel by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly around the East Lyn Valley area of Exmoor....

story it was the scene of the filming of the marriage of John Ridd at Oare church.

External links

• St. Beuno's (Culbone) churchyard Survey, completed 15th November 2008 by EA Knutsen, Student, Sheffield University