The Parlour

The Parlour is to the left of the cross passage which runs down the centre of the cottage. It contains a fireplace of c.1800 and a variety of chiefly 18^th and early 19^th century furniture. The walls are hung with illustrations and photographs (described clockwise from the door).

 

 

 

• Next to the door are photographs of Professor William Knight and Lord Lytton who were instrumental in saving the cottage for the nation in 1908

 

• Displayed below is a book-slide made from the wood of a beech tree which Coleridge and the Wordsworths are believed to have used as a meeting place.

 

• Left of the fireplace are illustrations of the Unitarian chapels at Taunton and Bridgwater where Coleridge often preached during 1797‑8.

 

• Portraits of Sara Coleridge and Tom Poole, and a photograph of the cottage in the 1890's when it was an inn held the Moore family.

 

• Right of the fireplace are illustrations which include Joseph Cottle, the Bristol bookseller, who was Coleridge's friend and first publisher.

 

• In the far corner by the door are illustrations of

• Christ's Hospital, London, where Coleridge was educated,

• The cave at Ottery St Mary called the Pixie's Parlour which Coleridge knew as a boy

• A drawing and photograph of the schoolmaster's house at Ottery where he was born.

 

• A full‑size reproduction of the famous portrait of Coleridge painted in Bristol by P. Vandyke in 1795.