Works of Thomas Hardy discussion

THOMAS HARDY'S COTTAGE in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset



This is where Thomas Hardy was born, the son of a stonemason, and was put aside as a stillborn child - until the midwife heard him crying and rescued him!

It's a very simple cottage on two floors, but without a staircase. You get to the upper floor via a ladder at the end. Thomas Hardy's grandmother also lived there as an old lady, and Hardy insisted she do this too! No bathroom, no central heating, a stone sink ... They built old ladies tough in those days LOL!

It is very pretty though and sometimes there are donkeys eating the bluebells :)

Here's more https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hard....

Thanks for this image - a lovely start to my day.

It really is still like that Karen - complete with ladder :)

I have some fun memories from our visit there in 2017. My wife is handicapped and rented a motorized cart to get down to the cottage from the entry. I was ahead of her or behind her, and didn't see it happen, but when she got to the turn she was going too fast and made the turn on two wheels !

Inside, there was a violin laying around (in one of his poems I think he talks about his father playing), and my wife, who is a violinist, got permission to play it. I was upstairs at the time, but when I heard the music floating upstairs, I was pretty sure who I was hearing.

Wow - that's amazing Brian! And I'm so pleased they let your wife play the violin :)

What a lovely story Brian, and thanks Jean for the photo and link! One more on my list of to-be-visited places in England. :)

I always think how much we would have lost, if the midwife had not been so conscientious! (And what awful conditions to give birth in too :( )

that is truly awesome, Brian. Thanks for sharing.

Bionic Jean wrote: "THOMAS HARDY'S COTTAGE in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset



Beautiful cottage. Lots of homes had the kids sleep in the rafters. So did the dogs and cats. When it rained, often all the homes leaked and the water pooled along the rafter joists. When a dog or cat went for a walk at night, they would slip and fall down perhaps on the sleeping parents. That's where we get the concept of "raining cats and dogs."

Its very striking even though it is small and has no stairs.

I was there last November! Sadly it wasn't open but my airbnb hosts had some access, the husband volunteered in the upkeep of the heath or local environment in some caliber and was very familiar with the area. They graciously drove me to this house and we walked around it and the surrounding heath.

This was a bucket list moment for me. I'm from the US (Florida) and have only ever read about the heath in my favorite english classics, but have never seen it for myself. Needless to say, I was majorly geeking out and asked a million heath-related questions. As it was in November I didn't get to see it in full bloom but will be saving that for another trip! Did get to see some wild ponies though, that was something I've never before seen and was surprised to hear were a thing.

I also didn't get to go inside the house, but just out side the fence mere feet away. If I remember correctly, the house serves as the inspiration for Tess' birth home as well - can't remember where I read this but it has always been in my head as such. I got a book at the Dorchester Museum called 'The Hardy Way: 19th Century Pilgrimage' that details Hardy stops throughout England, and begins at this house. Luckily Dorchester was my first stop on my own little Hardy tour, so I was able to reference this amazing guide for the rest of my trip! The book says the house was built by his paternal grandfather in 1800! Amazing that it's still associated with the family over two centuries later.


I have a lot more to say for this thread but will slow my role for now lol .... to be continued ha

Hi Kelly,

It's such a shame you didn't get to go inside Hardy's Cottage. But never say never - it is open at this very minute - so maybe you will return some day :)

Here is another view:



Yes, Thomas Hardy's own grandfather built the cottage of cob and thatch in 1800, and Thomas Hardy was himself was born there (as I described in the first comment) in 1840. It was Thomas Hardy's home for the first 34 years of his life.

It's a 10 minute walk through woodland, and then you pass directly through the lushly planted traditional garden to reach the cottage itself.

Once inside it is as if you are transported back in time. The interior is extremely simple, with a stone floor and open hearths, with only a meagre light admitted through small windows. It is furnished with furniture typical of the period, though none of it was actually owned by the Hardy family. There is a narrow passage. To one side is the family parlour, with chairs grouped around a large hearth. To the other side is the kitchen, with a hearth and bread oven backing onto the larger parlour fireplace. There are photos in the link I gave.

From the parlour, you pass through to a small room where Hardy's father worked, and from there a ladder rises to the first floor, where three small bedrooms lead from one to the next. All these rooms are very simply furnished, with a simple bedstead, washing stand, and a bureau.

No, I'm afraid it is not actually Tess's cottage, in the same way that the actual building in Dorchester is The Mayor of Casterbridge's house. I suspect you are remembering that this type of thatched cottage may have been the inspiration for Tess's childhood home, Kelly. I have put a piece about the much larger actual "Tess Cottage" in Marnhull at the start of our next group read thread, Phase the Second: LINK HERE.

Hardy's Cottage is in Higher Bockhampton: a different part of the county from Tess's home in "Marlott": Marnhull in real life. It is 24 and a half miles away, and takes 42 minutes to drive there by car on a good road nowadays!

The heath you mean is Egdon Heath, which features most in The Return of the Native. It rises up just behind the traditional garden at Hardy's Cottage.

There are photographs of the countryside in Tess's area, and the towns, in our thread of the read. I do hope you will join in! LINK HERE

Here's the link for the book Kelly mentions: The Hardy Way: A 19th Century Pilgrimage by Margaret Marande.

Bionic Jean wrote: "No, I'm afraid it is not actually Tess's cottage, in the same way that the actual building in Dorchester is The Mayor of Casterbridge's house. I suspect you are remembering that this t..."

Yes! You're right! I was a few cups of wine deep mixed it up lol! His cottage supposedly was Dewy's cottage in Under the Greenwood Tree (I looked it up in 'The Hardy Way' to fact check my own self first this time, ha!)

The infamous Egdon Heath!! Oh how I loved it. At one point I turned on the audio book for Return of the Native and listened to the the first chapter's description of the heath and just wandered!

Going to check out the links you have for Tess!

It's lovely to hear how much you got out of your visit to Hardy's own county, Kelly :)

In our read of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, we've see how Thomas Hardy set some of it in "Shaston", in Dorset, e.g. John Durbeyfield went to see the doctor there. In real life it is Shaftesbury.

Shaftesbury and Sherborne feature in more of Thomas Hardy's novels than any other towns. He called Sherborne "Sherton Abbas".

I thought you'd like to see the oldest postbox in Britain, which is in Holwell, near Sherborne, which was installed in 1853.



It bears the initials of Queen Victoria, who was on the throne at the time and it has survived two world wars and seen six monarchs rule the country! If Tess had posted a letter here, it would have been nearly 40 years old already.

Nearly 170 years old, and still being used to this day :)

I have just watched some footage of Hardy's funeral at Westminster Abbey, where, in spite of the rain, throngs of mourners are seen waiting outside. The video can be watched here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DQfL...

In the second video, you can see a clip of when his heart was laid to rest in Stinsford ('Melstock' in the novels).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWHQT...

Hardy's funeral at Westminster Abbey was held on 16 January 1928 and wasn't without controversy. Below is an extract from Hardy's Wiki page:

"Hardy had wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, Emma. His family and friends concurred; however, his executor, Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, insisted that he be placed in the abbey's famous Poets' Corner. A compromise was reached whereby his heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes in Poets' Corner."

Here is a video showing J.M. Barrie unveiling Hardy's statue in Dorchester, Hardy's home town. It was funded by public subscription to commemorate Hardy's life and works. The statue was unveiled on 2 September 1931.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGbIV...

I have managed to find some of the photos I had in mind, of Thomas Hardy's statue in Dorchester. (Thomas Hardy's "Casterbridge"). Sometimes filing things chronologically is not so helpful! I'll put them in the next post, as otherwise they'll probably end up in a Goodreads search engine.

Great photos, Jean. He looks appropriately contemplative. Visiting Dorset is the only thing on my bucket list. I never even had a bucket list a few weeks ago!

I'll try to take some better ones when I get back there, hopefully later this year. It used to be a lot easier when we had a car with us though.

This is Talbothays. Thomas Hardy and his brother Henry collaborated on the design and construction of this house, with the intention of providing a more comfortable home for their mother and unmarried siblings to live in after the death of their father. Hardy's mother was unwilling to move and the house was let out. Hardy's siblings eventually moved into the house in 1912. (Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin)

You may know Talbothays as the name Hardy gave the dairy farm in Tess of the D'Urbervilles. The name derives from the farm owned by Hardy's father in Stafford village. There was no house on it at that time. Talbothays is in 'the Valley of the Great Dairies'—the Frome valley between Puddletown Heath and West Stafford. Until his early 80's, Hardy was still fit enough to visit his siblings at Talbothays by bicycle! (A Hardy Companion by F.B. Pinion.)

Lovely, thanks Jane!

So we are going on holiday to North Devon in a few days and I would like to visit some Hardy places en route, but as I have my three kids with me I have to choose wisely. What would you recommend as being the best place to start?

It's not really my area, sorry! I'm on the coast of Dorset, and my book about all the Thomas Hardy locations in is my caravan there 😥

I had wondered if the watchtower (Taw Tower), near Barnstaple, ("Downstaple") is the same one as the one in Two On A Tower, but it doesn't seem to be as Two On A Tower is set around Wimborne (Dorset). He could have relocated it in his mind though - others might know. You can even stay there as it's a b&b!

Devon is Thomas Hardy's "Lower Wessex". Here's a map:



"Locations in Wessex, from The Wessex of Thomas Hardy by Bertram Windle, 1902, based on correspondence with Hardy"

I'm just south of "Port Bredy" (Bridport) and "Casterbridge" (Dorchester) on his map.

This is a good feature:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...

Thomas Hardy used bits of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire, Berkshire and even bits of Oxfordshire! The Dorset ones are familiar, but I'm not much help with Devon. I hope you can research it a bit, or others might be able to help. Have a great time, and do please share your Thomas Hardy discoveries with us, on your return! 😊

Thanks Jean! We visited Hardy's cottage and Stinsford Church this afternoon. A dream come true for me! Now I can research the tower - and funnily enough I have brought Two in a Tower to read as well.

That sounds amazing Natalie. What a wonderful trip

I'm so glad if I could help Natalie! Have fun and enjoy the rest of your stay 😊