European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse British tourist authority photos Hardy s Homeland at left Dorset county cottage in England where Thomas Hardy Ivas born in 1840. Above it a portrait of author by Augustus John painted four years before Hardy s death it hangs in Dorset county museum at Dorchester. Dorset county honors native son 1 Lis ashes Art kept in Westminster Abbey. His heart however is buried 1 20 Miles away in a Rural i Hurt Ward in Dorset county. The first tact recognizes Thomas Hardy s lasting National importance As an English novelist and poet. The second is a reminder that few writers anywhere anytime have been so totally identified w Ith their native soil. This summer Hardy s beloved Rural county in southwestern England celebrates 150th anniversary of his birth with a variety of events in towns and villages that appear a thinly disguised and with different names a in Many of his writings. The Man who wrote Tess of d urbe Villes and far from madding crowd w As born in 1 840, first of four children of a master Stonemason family s thatched cottage now in National Trust care still stands in higher Rockhampton a Village referred to As Quot upper Mell Slocky in Hardy s novels. I i adv s education began at higher Rockhampton ullage school and continued in nearby Dorchester a . Quot Caster Bridge Quot a town where he spent much of his life. Appropriately main Hardy 1990 celebrations begin in Dorc Hester w Ith a victorian Street fair a and a \ Isit from Orient express a on june 2. A Quot Hardy country fair Quot is scheduled follow ing Day at Kingston Marward county agricultural College there. Eor following three months visitors to country of Dorset will find a variety of events in such places As Swanage Quot Knoll sea quo Wareham Quot Quot port Bredy quo Corfe Castle i Quot corps Gate quo Sherborne Quot Sherton Abbas Quot and Shaftesbury Quot Shaston Quot. There will be stage productions of Hardy s plays and stories plus spec Ial concerts lectures victorian fairs Folk dancing exhibitions Church services Flower festivals readings carnivals and Craft markets. Many annual local activities will adopt a Hardy theme for 1990. British rail will name a locomotive after author in a june 6 ceremony at Dorchester and on june 16 and 17 a play and poetry readings will be presented aboard a steam train at Swanage. Dorset remains very much Hardy country. Its rolling Hills and heathland old Market towns picturesque villages inviting pubs prehistoric Sites Fine Manor houses and impressive coastal Cliffs make it Ideal for leisurely touring. Dorchester eight Miles Inland from Weymouth Quot badmouth quotes w Ell suited As a base for regional tourism and also is key place for anyone interested in Hardy s life and work. At 16, Hardy became Pupil of a Dorchester architect. He spent six years there before moving to work for a London architect for six years a and that was his Only Long spell outside Dorset county. While Hardy was in London poetry became one of his consuming interests and it was there that his first article a How i built myself a House a was published in 1865. On Wareham Road on outskirts of Dorchester is Max Cate House he did eventually design for himself in 1883 his brother Henry w As builder. Visitors to this somewhat gloomy House included . Lawrence . Shaw . Stevenson Virginia Woolf and Rudyard Kipling. It is not open to Public now but in splendid Dorset county museum in Dorchester is a reconstruction of Hardy s Max Gate study packed with relics. On table that hardys used is pen with w hich he wrote Tess and Jude obscure and Calendar that he kept at March 7, Date on which he met his first wife. The reconstructed study also has portraits of his parents by his sister Mary and his spectacles violin cello and favorite walking stick. The museum will stage a special exhibition for Hardy 1990 from july 7 to sept. 29. The town is Best explored on foot. Just off High West Street is Eric Kennington s statue of Hardy unveiled in 1931 a three years after writer s death a by his playwright Friend sir James Barrie. Kennington was also responsible for memorial effigy of another of Hardy s friends Lawrence of Arabia which can be seen a few Miles away in St. Martin s Church at Wareham. Dorchester has Many buildings linked with Hardy including hotels and inns. Barclay s Bank in traffic free South Street for example occupies Home of fictional mayor of Caster Bridge. Among nearby places to visit Are of course cottage where Hardy was born and tiny Church at Stansford where his heart is buried. On Christmas eve 1919, in that same Stansford churchyard Hardy claimed to have seen and spoken to a ghost in flowing 18th-Century dress. To o Miles on other Side of Dorchester is Maiden Castle a vast earthwork and Hill fort that dates Back to Stone age and Iron age and is mentioned in Hardy s writings. The Church at Bere Regis Quot King s Bere Quot in Tess has a magnificent 15th-Century carved Oak roof but for Hardy enthusiasts main interest is Turberville Chapel and window and inscribed Flagstone leading to Turberville tombs below. A few Miles West is medieval athe Hampton Manor set amid Beautiful gardens it is open to Public from Spring to autumn and was subject of Hardy s Dame Ofat Helali Dorset is Rich in stately Homes and gardens including Forde Abbey a 12th-Century cistercian monastery converted into a 17th-Century country House Sherborne Castle partly built by sir Walter Raleigh 17th-Century Kingston Lacey where Hardy was a guest of Bankes family who bequeathed it to National Trust and Parnham an elizabethan Manor near Beaminster which has furniture designer John Makepeace s school for craftsmen in Wood. This article was written by Marc Kemmis Lor British tourist aug Honey for More information about Dorset county or Hardy 1990 Celebration Contact any Bra office. In United states address is Bra. 40 w 57th set. New York. N y 10019. In Britain address is Bra. Thames Tower. Black s Road. W6 9�l London. England. 6 stripes Magazine May 17, 1990
