Mellstock Dorset

Hardys Mellstock (Stinsford Parish) has changed very little in the 179 years since he was born the human population has dwindled although the number of dwellings has more than doubled. Mellstock is best explored on foot starting in the territory of his first novel, Desperate Remedies,where Knapwater House and the Old Manor still match Hardys descriptions. From here you can follow his childhood route from Dorchester to the farmyard of The Oxen, built by Hardys father, and then along Veterans Alley through the landscape of Under the Greenwood Tree to Hardys Cottage, Tranter Dewys home. Return across the heath to Rushy Pond and Lower Mellstock, following in the footsteps of the Mellstock Quire to reach Mellstock church and graveyard. Here his heart lies buried between the bodies of his two wives and beside his siblings and generations of his ancestors, close by the earthly remains of many of the original characters from this partly real partly dream country.

• Associated pages
• Egdon Heath
• Beyond Egdon
• Mellstock

In the footsteps of Tess and Angel: A walk around the environs of Wool

On 30/09/2023
Starts 13:30 until 15:30

The New Hardy Players present, A Rehearsed Reading of Stronghold of Happiness

On 30/09/2023
Starts 19:00 until 20:30

Dorchester Literary Festival | A Walk Around Dorchester in the Footsteps of Thomas Hardy

On 15/10/2023
Starts 11:00 until 13:00

Ridgeway Singers & Band 10th Anniversary Concert - Ansty

On 21/10/2023
Starts 19:30 until 20:30

Call For Papers: The Twenty-Sixth International Thomas Hardy Conference & Festival

Aug2023

Recruitment | Thomas Hardy Society Secretary and a Membership Secretary

Aug2023

Unlocking Thomas Hardy – opening up the finest Hardy archive in the world

Jul2023

Book Launch | Woman Much Missed: Thomas Hardy, Emma Hardy, and Poetry by Mark Ford

Jul2023