A Successful Study Day at the King's Arms

What an enjoyable day we had on our Hardy & Architecture Study Day.

Attendees learnt about how Thomas Hardy, son of a builder and stonemason, became apprenticed at 16 to Dorchester architect and church restorer, John Hicks. The skills he learned stayed with him, engendered a life-long love of architecture, assisted him with the building of Max Gate after his marriage, and greatly influenced his writing.

Anna Hardy from the Salisbury Diocese Project informed us about the exciting "Hardy and Church Restoration" project she is working on in partnership with the Thomas Hardy Society. This exciting undertaking will create a trail of churches that Hardy helped to restore or have a Hardy connection. Martin Cree also updated us on the restoration work at Owermoigne church and the connection to Hardy's Nether Moynton in The Distracted Preacher from Wessex Tales.

A huge thank you to The King's Arms for hosting ... such delicious food .. and to our sponsor, Crickmay Stark Architects, who were such a big part of Hardy's story after John Hicks died.

Thank you to everyone that came and supported this THS event - Lots more upcoming events on our website - All welcome!