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Discover the heart of Hardy’s Wessex

www.westdorset.com Welcome to the heart of Hardy’s Wessex 1

Thomas Hardy, internationally follow the Hardy Trail, which links renowned poet and novelist, spent together places where he lived, most of his life in . His works places he wrote about and the are now held in high esteem and church where his heart is buried. studied in schools and universities You will also find information on throughout the world. This leaflet specialist tours, Hardy events and will help you to explore the area that locations used for popular film and inspired Thomas Hardy. You can TV productions of Hardy's novels.

Hardy’s study and portrait: Jon Sloper © The Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 2005

Misty morning, Dorchester: (front cover) © Roger Holman www.westdorset.com Thomas Hardy Poet & Novelist 1840 - 1928

Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 at Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester. He was the eldest of four children and his father was a master mason. As a child he was shy and reflective, encouraged by his mother to read and study beyond the usual level for local children. He was also a keen fiddle-player and often went with his father to play at local christenings, weddings and parties. 2 At 16 Hardy became apprenticed to an architect in Dorchester. He practised as an architect in London for five years but returned to Dorchester after deciding he wanted to write. His first attempt at a novel was rejected, but with the help of , whom he later married, his second attempt was successful. Over the next 25 years he wrote in all 14 novels and over 50 short stories. In 1895 he published , after which he abandoned novel-writing and devoted the rest of his life to poetry.

In 1895 he and Emma moved into , the house he had designed on the edge of Dorchester. Emma died in 1912 and in 1914 he married . He 3 died on 11th January 1928. 8 Hardy adopted the historical name of Wessex as the name for his own ‘partly real, partly-dream country’.The raw materials for his novels came from his life, the country folk and the contrasting landscapes of Dorset. He used a mixture of real and fictional names for landscape features and the towns and villages, drawing from his extensive knowledge of the area. 4 The great majority of locations in Hardy's novels and 1 Eggardon Hill, Nettlecombe stories are set within . Among these are Tess of the d'Urbervilles, , Far From 2 Portrait of Thomas Hardy the Madding Crowd, and . Many of the key locations from these novels are 3 Explore Hardy’s Wessex mentioned throughout this leaflet, the real place names © Afffinity Image Library are shown first, followed by those used by Hardy. 4 Max Gate, Dorchester Hardy film and 5 TV locations

The landscape of West Dorset is entwined with Hardy's novels and with much of it remaining unchanged, it is not surprising that several film and TV adaptations of his novels have been actually filmed in the area. The ITV adaptation of The Mayor of Casterbridge screened in 2003 and starring Ciaran Hinds and Jodhi May was filmed at locations including Maiden Castle, and Charmouth. Some of the filming for the 1998 ITV production of Tess of the d'Urbervilles took place in Cerne Abbas and Minterne Gardens. The 1967 film adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd starring Alan Bates and Julie Christie used 6 locations including Mai