Historical
Dorset
Geological Dorset
Beautiful Dorset
John Meade Falkner's Moonfleet
Lawrence of Arabia's Dorset
Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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Literary Dorset
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Thomas Hardy surveys his Casterbridge at the Top o' Town, Dorchester.
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| High East Street, Dorchester. All
Saints Church, and the King's Arms (opposite).
The Mayor of Casterbridge chapter
5.
The building before whose doors [the town band] had pitched their music stands
was the chief hotel in Casterbridge - namely, the King's Arms. A spacious
bow-window projected into the street over the main portico, and from the open
sashes came the babble of voices, the jingle of glasses, and the drawing of
corks.
The Mayor of Casterbridge chapter
33.
At this date there prevailed in Casterbridge a convivial custom--scarcely
recognized as such, yet none the less established. On the afternoon of every
Sunday a large contingent of the Casterbridge journeymen--steady church-goers
and sedate characters--having attended service, filed from the church doors
across the way to the Three Mariners Inn. The rear was usually brought up by
the choir, with their bass-viols, fiddles, and flutes under their arms.
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Ten Hatches Weir, Dorchester
The Mayor of
Casterbridge chapter 41.
To the east of Casterbridge lay moors and meadows through which much water
flowed. The wanderer in this direction who should stand still for a few moments
on a quiet night, might hear singular symphonies from these waters, as from a
lampless orchestra, all playing in their sundry tones from near and far parts
of the moor. At a hole in a rotten weir they executed a recitative; where a
tributary brook fell over a stone breastwork they trilled cheerily; under an
arch they performed a metallic cymballing; and at Durnover Hole they hissed.
The spot at which their instruments rose loudest was a place called Ten
Hatches, whence during high springs there proceeded a very fugue of sounds.
The river here was deep and strong at all times, and the hatches on this
account were raised and lowered by cogs and a winch. A path led from a second
bridge on a highway (so often mentioned) to these hatches, crossing the stream
at their head by a narrow plank-bridge. But after night-fall human beings were
seldom found going that way, the path leading only to a deep stream called
Blackwater, and the passage being dangerous.
Henchard, however, leaving the town by the east road, proceeded to the second,
or stone bridge, and thence struck into this path of solitude, following its
course beside the stream till the dark shapes of the Ten Hatches cut the sheen
thrown upon the river by the week lustre that still lingered in the
west.
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Maiden Castle
This iron age hill fort is just south of
Dorchester. As well as providing the background for John Cowper Powys's novel
Maiden Castle, it was also the location of one of the most dramatic
scenes in the film version of Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, when
Terence Stamp as Sargeant Troy demonstrated his sword mastery skills to Julie
Christie (Bathsheba Everdene).
Moreton Church
Famed for its engraved glass windows depicting
scenes from the Second World War (during which it suffered extensive bomb
damage), Moreton Church is a mere mile or two away from Clouds Hill, home of
T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and scene of his fatal motorbike accident
in 1935. Lawrence was largely responsible for encouraging the Arab tribes to
revolt against their Turkish rulers. This was achieved in 1918, and his
experiences were recounted in his classic Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Lawrence's funeral was held in this church on the 21st May 1935 in the presence
of such luminaries as Sir Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Lady Nancy
Astor. His grave is in a little graveyard about half a mile away. The beautiful engraved windows that create such a light atmosphere inside the church were installed after the church was bombed during the Second World War.
Please click here for more images connected with T.E. Lawrence in Dorset.
John Meade Falkner's
Moonfleet
Readers of Meade Falkner's classic children's
adventure novel (and fans of the 1955 Stewart Grainger Hollywood version directed by Fritz Lang) visit this little church at the village of East Fleet near
Weymouth, where they are thrilled to discover that there really is a vault underneath
containing the mortal remains of the Mohun family - the vault in which John
Trenchard became trapped. There is also a substantial tunnel under the graveyard, however it was
unlikely to have been used for smuggling, and (apparently) does not connect with the vault.
Falkner describes the church as it would have been in 1757, for on the 23rd
September 1824 all but the chancel of this church was destroyed by a freak
storm.
Chapter 2
"This church is as large as any other I have seen, and
divided into two parts with a stone screen across the middle. ...This western
portion was quite empty beyond a few old tombs and a Royal Arms of Queen Anne;
the pavement too was damp and mossy; and there were green patches down the
white walls where the rains had got in. So the handful of people that came to
church were glad enough to get the other side of the screen in the chancel,
where at least the pew floors were boarded over, and the panelling of oak-work
kept off the draughts."
Please click here for more images of East Fleet Church. |
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Hardy's The Trumpet-Major
The White Horse was created in the Osmington Hills in 1808 to
commemorate the visits of George III to Weymouth. It covers more than an acre, being more than 280 feet long and 323 feet high.
Hardy referred to the image in chapter 38 of his romance
"The Trumpet-Major" concerning Trumpet-Major John Loveday and his
sweetheart Anne Garland.
"When they reached the hill they found forty navvies at
work removing the dark sod so as to lay bare the chalk beneath. The equestrian
figure that their shovels were forming was scarcely intelligible to John and
Anne now they were close, and after pacing from the horse's head down his
breast to his hoof, back by way of the king's bridle-arm, past the bridge of
his nose, and into his cocked-hat, Anne said that she had had enough of it, and
stepped out of the chalk clearing upon the grass."
Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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