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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Dorset => Topic started by: Lydart on Saturday 06 September 08 18:46 BST (UK)
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... Sunday 7th September, at 6.30 p.m.
'A celebration of the life and work of Thomas Hardy ... his upbringing in rural Dorset ... '
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Thanks Lydart for the tip
My favourite poet and author :) :)
Kerry
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Thanks for that, Lydart, I hadn't spotted it.
Hardy is one of my all-time favourite authors, and one line of my family tree has very deep roots in "Tess" country - the Blackmore Vale - so I shall watch with great interest.
Linda
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My daughter and I will be watching that as she has been reading Far from the madding crowd during her school holidays
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Thanks for the reminder Lydart. :D
Nanny Jan
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Well that was definitely worth watching. Very interesting and Griff is obviously as enthusiastic about Hardy as I am. I studied his poetry at school and it was amazing how many poems I could recite along with Geoffrey Palmer. :) :)
I really didn't realise that Dorset was the poorest county though. I guess it relied on agriculture mainly??
Kerry
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Glad it was good ... going to watch it later in iPlayer ...
Dorset was ploughed for many a generation by my fore-bears !
I'm in the middle of Mayor of Casterbridge ..
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You will enjoy it Lydart :D
New production of Tess starting next Sunday night, hope its better than the last one done on TV ::) ::)
Kerry
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I went down to Casterbridge show on Saturday and the mud was unbelievable. It's right on the outskirts of town, though, so it's possible to park in town and walk out along the River Frome. It's a lovely show in spite of the mud and it's impossible not to picture Henchard and Farfrae going about their farming business down there.
Fred
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Would have been interesting to see.
I'm losely related...
My great-grandfather's brother was married to Thomas Hardy's cousin's widow - they brought up their 2 daughters (of the 1st marriage) in Barby, near Rugby, Warwickshire. I'm still not sure how he came to meet the good widow though - it would have been a long trek from there to the wilds of Dorset in those days.
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I enjoyed the drama. Stonehenge I know but what about other places. Anyone familiar with any of the villages?
Thanks,Toby.
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I see that it is already on the Internet movie database with a list of locations:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186342/locations
Fred :)
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Thats interesting... so very little of Tess was actually filmed in Dorset !
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I thoroughly enjoyed the series.
Toby - I was wondering about the places too and came across the interesting site:
http://neal.oxborrow.net/Thomas_Hardy/Hardyplacenames.htm
Justin
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Thanks for that site JustinL. I had seen a short list but nothing like that. I now need to know in which novel Moreford Rise appears.
I hope more Hardy novels will be put on our screens and more of Dorset used for it is a truly beautiful county and some of it remains really remote.
Toby.
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Hi Toby,
Moreford Rise appears in the poem "The Slow Nature" (1894).
Nanny Jan
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Thanks for that Nanny Jan. It is of interest as one of my ggg grandfathers was the miller at Broomhill Mills.
Toby.
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Apparently, Hardy's inspiration for 'Tess' was sight of a beautiful young girl milking a cow. Hardy used to pass the Milk Parlour as he went for his walk. Her name was Augusta Way and he became friends with the family. Augusta had a normal. non tragic life.
Dorset is a glorious County, and I am still discovering it's beautiful secrets. Other little oddities - the village of Kimmeridge !. Just bought an old book (1940) that tells me that all the people in Kimmeridge have red hair. They regard non-red headed persons as aliens. ?
We know the Vikings invaded Dorset first, but thats taking it a bit far. I must pop over and have a look, to see if it is still true.
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My great-grandfather's brother was married to Thomas Hardy's cousin's widow
Blimey Tony, I'm surprised we haven't met at family weddings: my great-great-great-grandfather, Robert Mather Watson, was married to Emma Hardy's aunt (before marrying my great-great-great-grandmother). He even gets a mention in her diary:
http://www.hardysociety.org/pdfs/Notes%20and%20Queries%20Summer%202007.pdf
My daughter (who, along with most Rootschatters' children, is studying him for A2) seems strangely unimpressed.
Richard
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Sorry only just read this...
It is a small world, and I would love to explore the hardy link with my family further, even though it's not a blood link.