The 2nd of what we hope will be an annual lecture in memory of the Somerset Tanner, Tom Poole, from Nether Stowey. He lived from 1765 to 1837 bridging the period when modern scientific understanding was entering society, and with it the leather industry. Sir Humphry Davy, famed for nitrous oxide and the miner’s lamp, won the leading scientific prize – the Copley Medal – for his studies and lectures on leather a subject he had been discussing with Poole for years. Through Davy’s workplace in Bristol Poole became a part of a small community of friends such as Coleridge, Wordsworth and Tom Wedgwood. Professor Tom Fulford’s wonderful lecture took us through these complex relationships and how the rich liked to travel in Europe and experience the mountain air. His detailed research of the correspondence between Poole and Wedgwood and others gave us extraordinary insights .
A rather muddled photo tour takes us past the bark mill Poole had built, stories about him and his philanthropy in the library which was packed for the lecture, tea in the garden behind Tom Poole’s house repeating the toast with cheese and cider given to Poole by Coleridge and his publisher when Coleridge’s wife walked through the garden with their child from the cottage Poole had arranged for them to join them. And a short play about the amazing life of Coleridge’s daughter Sara.
Tom Poole’s House with large tannery behind