WHAT is the collective noun for a gathering of Coleridges? An ‘anthology’? An albatross? Almost 100 descendants of Samuel Taylor Coleridge congregated in Ottery St Mary, east Devon, last month to witness the great unveiling of the first ever full-sized statue of our ancestor, the celebrated poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian. Sculpted by Nicholas Dimbleby and cast in bronze, it stands atop a granite boulder in St Mary’s churchyard, 250 years to the day since Coleridge’s birth in 1772.
It is a glorious statue: Coleridge in frock coat with carved walking stick and notebook; heroic, reflective, soulful, but bursting with energy. His coat is unbuttoned, his
