The Ancient Mariner

The Ancient Mariner and Yankee Jack statues

On the Esplanade you will find two special statues commemorating two special Watchet creative characters.  These statues were commissioned by Watchet Market House Museum.

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Ancient Mariner

Watchet harbour became the inspiration for the epic poem The Ancient Mariner by the romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In 1797 he walked over the Quantock Hills from his home in Nether Stowey, along with his friends William and Dorothy Wordsworth, and came upon Watchet. It has been said that looking down at the town from St. Decuman’s Church gave him the inspiration for his poem.

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The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill
Below the lighthouse top.

A seven-foot high effigy of the mariner was designed and created by sculptor Alan B. Herriot, of Penicuik, Scotland, cast by Powderhall Fine Art Foundries in Edinburgh and unveiled by Dr. Katherine Wyndham in 2003.

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For more information about Coleridge and the Ancient Mariner