Coleridge in Wales 

In 1794 the 21 year old Coleridge set off from Cambridge University with a fellow undergraduate, on a walking tour of Wales. Walking holidays are now such a popular pastime it’s hard to imagine how radical an act it was considered to be in the late 18th century. Poor people and vagrants had to walk, other people travelled by horseback or carriage. To walk through choice was to align with the common people –a political statement in this era of revolution in France.
Stopping off in Oxford they met the young Bristol poet Robert Southey already renowned for his strong republican views. A 3-day stay turned into 3 weeks as Southey and Coleridge formed a bond of friendship and mutual admiration, and hatched a plan to emigrate to America and set up a community, sharing property, labour and self government, a scheme they christened ‘Pantisocracy’. Energised and excited they both set off to find fellow thinkers to recruit, Southey to Bristol and Coleridge on his tour of Wales. At the King’s Arms, Ross, Coleridge scratched democratic verses in the window shutter about the Man of Ross, before heading off to North Wales. The Welsh tour brought out, for the first time, his passionate response to wild nature, and he began writing poetry with much greater fluency.
Coleridge must have seen Tintern Abbey and Chepstow for the first time as he headed for Bristol, but it was the following year, in 1795 that Coleridge and Southey together with Sara and Edith Fricker, the sisters soon to be their respective wives, were invited to make a trip to Tintern Abbey by their friend and publisher Joseph Cottle.
Tensions in the poets’ relationship erupted at Chepstow, were soothed by the delights of Piercefield, then almost disastrous drama befell them as they were caught out by night falling as they walked to Tintern on the treacherously stony road.
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Best known as one of our greatest romantic poets, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was also philosopher, literary critic, journalist, lecturer, diplomat, political thinker, the best talker of his time, and notorious opium addict. This year the Coleridge in Wales Festival aims to rediscover the imaginative voice of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and its relevance to challenges facing Wales today. In May, singer and facilitator Richard Parry sets out on an 80 day adventure around Wales in search of hidden Welsh treasure, meeting and travelling with artists, poets, musicians, actors, environmentalists, philosophers, on the route of Coleridge’s tours of Wales.

Find out more about their Wye Valley adventure at events planned for Chepstow and Tintern on May 22nd & 23rd in Chepstow and 24th at Tintern. Follow in their footsteps with guides discovering Piercefield on Monday 23rd May and walk their path to Tintern  on Tuesday 24th. At Tintern Village Hall, Prof John Clarke of the Tintern Philosophy Circle will introduce aspects of Coleridge’s life, accompanied by images, readings and music.

                                                                               Click here for full details

 Walks

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Monday 23rd May 2016
2.00 pm
Meet at Chepstow Leisure Centre Car park by the sign for the Wye Valley Walk.
4 miles, Approx 2.5-3 hours.

Tuesday 24th May 2016
2.00 pm
Meet outside modern entrance of Tintern Abbey
Just over 3 miles, approximately 2 – 2.5 hours.

WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLERIDGE
THE PIERCEFIELD WALKS
 The poets Coleridge and Southey came to the Wye Valley in 1795 together with their future wives, the Fricker sisters and their friend and publisher Joseph Cottle. After visiting Chepstow Castle and dining at the Beaufort, the poets famously argued - a nail in the coffin of their plans to found a community in America together.. Tempers were soothed by the delights of the Piercefield Walks which was another 'must see' on their way to Tintern.
Take a guided walk of Piercefield and discover what remains of the Walks today and what Coleridge would have seen in his day.
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This will be a circular walk, on woodland paths and across fields, some rough terrain with some steep steps, and there are narrow paths with a drop on one side in places. 
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With Anne Rainsbury, Curator, Chepstow Museum + Richard Parry, Coleridge in Wales
In collaboration and accompanied by Chepstow Walkers are Welcome


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Please ring Chepstow Museum 01291 625981 to book so that we know you are coming!

WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF COLERIDGE – TO TINTERN!
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Minibus to Wyndcliffe Car Park
​ We will be following the route that Coleridge and his party took (but not getting lost and caught by nightfall!)      
Coleridge and his party spent so long delighting in the Piercefield Walks that while they were walking to Tintern night fell and they were temporarily lost. Discover their dilemma and how they got to Tintern in the end… We will follow in their footsteps – not in the dark!

The walk includes some rough ground, including going down quite a stony path, so please wear appropriate footwear, walking boots or shoes.  We will read the account of the walk as recalled by Joseph Cottle, Coleride and Southey’s friend and publisher in his reminiscences. 
Having arrived back at Tintern we hope you will stay for the evenings events:
A small donation of £2 will berequired to cover the cost of the minibus.

​​Please ring Chepstow Museum 01291 625981 to book so that we know you are coming

EVENTS

Sunday 22nd May 2016
7.30 pm
Florence Suite
Beaufort Hotel
Chepstow
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Tuesday 24th May 2016
7.30 pm
Tintern Village Hall
Tintern

​COLERIDGE IN CHEPSTOW
Talk by Gregory Leadbetter on Coleridge’s Walk through Wales in 1794 +  poetry and song
Gregory Leadbetter is Reader in Literature and Creative Writing at Birmingham City University. His book Coleridge and the Daemonic Imagination won the University English Book Prize 2012. His talk: 'Poetry, Politics and Portents: Coleridge and the Waters of Plynlimon'
Coleridge was travelling on his epic walk with a university friend, Joseph Hucks, who would publish an account of their tour the following year. In 1795 Coleridge returned to the lower Wye Valley for a trip to Tintern. This venue has been chosen as it was here in 1795 that the poets Coleridge, Southey and their fiancées the Fricker sisters, and their friend and publisher Joseph Cottle dined and here that Coleridge and Southey famously argued – another nail in the coffin of their scheme for an ideal self-governing shared-property-owning community.  Hear the account of that trip, their poetry and some song!
Tickets £4 / £3 concession
From Chepstow Museum tel 01291 625981

Tuesday 24th May 2016
9.30 pm
Tintern Abbey
​Tintern

Celebrating Coleridge in Tintern 
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A multi-media portrait of Coleridge, Romantic poet and philosopher, whose radical ideas helped to revolutionise British cultural life - and to promote the virtues of walking. Presented by Professor John Clarke with Steve Eddy (reader), Claire Hamilton (harp) and Vanessa Dodd (visuals),

This event has been organised by the Tintern Philosophy Circle as part of the national Welsh celebration of Coleridge's epic walk in 1794 which extended for about 800 miles from Cambridge to Bristol via Hereford, Wrexham, Snowdonia, Anglesey, Aberystwyth, Brecon, Tintern and Chepstow.





​Tickets £4 / £3 concession in advance from Chepstow Museum tel 01291 625981 or the White Monk Cafe near Tintern Abbey.

Wednesday 25th May 2016
7.30 pm 
Shire Hall
​Monmouth

Torchlight Tour  of Tintern Abbey (which Coleridge and his party took in 1795)
Led by Dr David Robinson, author of the Tintern  Abbey Guidebook, architectural historian with a particular interest in the buildings of the Middle Ages and in the people connected with these sometimes iconic structures. He has published many books and articles on the built heritage of Wales. (formerly with Cadw and English Heritage)
In the late 18th century it was popular for tourists to visit the Abbey by moonlight, and by torchlight, intensifying the experience of visiting the gothic ruins.  Find out more about what they were seeking…
Tickets £7.50  from Chepstow Museum tel 01291 625981  PLaces Limited booking essentional
Organised by Chepstow Museum in association with Cadw

Spin, lies and deception: Coleridge’s triumph on Malta
 
Talk by Barry Hough, Portsmouth University and author of works on Coleridge’s life on Malta, in the Mediterranean war zone 1804-5, where he found friendship and employment as diplomat and administrator with Sir Alexander Ball, one of Nelson’s Band of Brothers,





Tickets £4 Monmouth Museum tel 01600 710630 and Chepstow Museum tel 01291 625981