The Rime of the Ancient Mariner that the poem may have been inspired by the voyage of Thomas James into the Arctic. According to William Wordsworth, the poem was inspired while Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Wordsworth's sister Dorothy were on a walking tour through the Quantock Hills in Somerset. The discussion had turned to a book that Wordsworth was reading, "A Voyage Round The World by Way of the Great South Sea" (1726) by Captain George Shelvocke. In the book, a melancholy sailor, Simon Hatley, shoots a black albatross: As they discussed Shelvocke's book, Wordsworth proffers the following developmental critique to Coleridge, which importantly contains a reference
Watchet Kentsford Bridge is a packhorse bridge over the Washford River. It existed before the Reformation, possibly being a route to Cleeve Abbey and was repaired in 1613. The bridge is wide and has a total span of . Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" was written in 1797 whilst travelling through Watchet and the surrounding area. He lived at Coleridge Cottage in Nether Stowey and while living there he wrote "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison", part of "Christabel", "Frost at Midnight" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". It is claimed that the sight of harbour,