Thomas Hardy programme on BBC1 ..

[Tony Payne]

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.

[toby webb]

I enjoyed the drama. Stonehenge I know but what about other places. Anyone familiar with any of the villages?
Thanks,Toby.

[stockman fred]

I see that it is already on the Internet movie database with a list of locations:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186342/locations
Fred

[Lydart]

Thats interesting... so very little of Tess was actually filmed in Dorset !

[JustinL]

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

[toby webb]

          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.

[nanny jan]

Hi Toby,

Moreford Rise appears in the poem "The Slow Nature" (1894).


Nanny Jan

[toby webb]

Thanks for that Nanny Jan. It is of interest as one of my ggg grandfathers was the miller at Broomhill Mills.
Toby.

[roz.ronly]

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.