THS Conference Tuesday 28th July 2026

Tuesday 28th July 2026
All day event
The Dorford Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1RR

The 27th International Thomas Hardy Conference and Festival

Tuesday, 28th July 2026

Scroll down to view and book events taking place on the 4th day of the THS Conference

Hardy & Archaeology

A Talk with a View followed by a Dorset Cream Tea

Time: 1.30pm - The coach leaves Top o' Town car park at 1.30pm, returning around 4.00pm

Cost: £20 Conference Ticket Holders

£22 THS Members

£25 Non-Members

(Ticket price includes coach and a cream tea)

Venue: Came Down Golf Club

Meet: Top o' Town Car Park

Join Chris Copson for a fascinating talk on Hardy and Archaeology

Came Down Golf Club has panoramic views over the South Dorset Ridgeway; a nationally significant prehistoric ceremonial landscape, boasting one of the highest concentrations of Bronze Age round barrows and Neolithic monuments in the country. The golf club itself contains an ancient barrow.

Thomas Hardy was deeply interested in archaeology, with his firsthand discoveries directly influencing his poetry and novels set in ancient Wessex. Hardy actively uncovered Roman and Neolithic artifacts, including human remains at his home, Max Gate, unknowingly built on a 5,000-year-old henge known as "Flagstones Monument" or the "Dorset Stonehenge". Excavations there, also uncovered a large sarsen stone, which Hardy re-erected in his garden and named "The Druid Stone".

Hardy was instrumental in early efforts to protect local heritage, supporting the creation of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, which founded the Dorset County Museum. His training as an architect gave him a practical, analytical eye for the "relics of antiquity".

Hardy's writing frequently features, preserves, and reimagines Dorset’s ancient, prehistoric landscapes, highlighting memory, time, and human continuity.

The short story "A Tryst at an Ancient Earthwork" opens with a richly atmospheric description of the natural environment of an illicit night time excavation within the Roman temple of Maiden Castle. The theme of this year's CBA Festival of Archaelogy is "Archaeology and Nature", most appropriate for Hardy.

This fascinating talk, set within a stunning archaeological landscape will finish with a delicious traditional Dorset Cream Tea (included in the ticket price).

Included in the CBA Festival of Archaeology

BOOK ONLINE

Priority booking is given to Conference ticket holders

Booking Open to others from 2nd June 2026 (subject to availability)

Hardy's Dorset Gallery Tour

Showcasing the life and works of Thomas Hardy

Time: 1.30pm

Cost: £15.00 - THS Conference Ticket Holders

£15.00 - THS/DNHAS Members

£20.00 - Non-Members

Venue: Dorset Museum & Art Gallery

Places are limited and allocated on a first-come basis

Join Alban O'Brien on an exploration of "Hardy's Dorset", the world-renowned gallery at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery.

The gallery houses items from Hardy's personal and professional life and showcases his life and works. The tour will include readings from Hardy's writing associated with items in the collection.

After visiting the Hardy Gallery, the tour will explore other items with a Hardy connection on display in this award-winning museum, including the gargoyle from Lucetta's house in "The Mayor of Casterbridge" and rural artefacts featured in "The Woodlanders" and "Tess of the D'Urbervilles".

Participants will also have the opportunity to visit the temporary exhibition on "Treasure: Lost and Found" and to see other notable objects in the museum’s collection.

Hardy Gallery - Fernando_Dorset-Museum-©-2021

BOOK ONLINE

Priority booking for Full Conference Ticket Holders

Booking Open to others from 2nd June 2026 (Subject to availability)

The Mayor of Casterbridge Walk

A walking tour of Hardy's novel set in Victorian Dorchester

Led by Alastair Braidwood

Time: 3.30pm

Cost: £10.00 - THS Conference ticket holders

£12.00 - THS members

£15.00 - Non-members

Meet: Outside Dorset Museum & Art Gallery

Join Alastair Braidwood for an entertaining walking tour of landmarks featured in Thomas Hardy’s "The Mayor of Casterbridge" with associated readings of Hardy's poetry and prose.

See Casterbridge through Thomas Hardy's eyes and discover the places and buildings that inspired him to write the novel.

The tour will visit the The King's Arms where Susan and Elizabeth-Jane first observed Michael Henchard in his role as Mayor and The Ring, where Susan and Henchard had their tryst, visit the site of Henchard's house in South Street and High Place Hall, the home of Lucetta Templeman.

Follow Henchards footsteps round the town and visit the spot where the critical meeting with Donald Farfrae took place and where Farfrae hosted his successful tented festival despite the weather and retrace Henchard's walk along the river path and Ten Hatches weir which had such an impact on him.

Meet outside Dorchester Museum & Art Gallery at 3.00pm, returning around 4.30pm.

Please wear weather-appropriate clothing and comfortable footwear.

Approximately 2 hours of mostly paved walking, except Maumbury Rings.

BOOK ONLINE

Priority booking for Full Conference Ticket Holders

Booking Open to others from 2nd June 2026 (Subject to availability)

A Casterbridge Quiz and Buffet

Test your knowledge of everything Hardy

Time: 7.00pm

Cost: £20 (including buffet) THS Conference Ticket Holders

£25 (including buffet) Quiz Evening Only

Venue: The Old Tea House

How much do you know about Thomas Hardy and Wessex? Test your knowledge and pit your wits against other Hardyans.

Join us for a light-hearted and fun, evening event, finding out how much you know about the characters and places in Thomas Hardy’s Wessex.

No prizes just an enthusiastic Huzzah! for the winners.

Buffet included!

Quizmaster Mark Chutter, Chair of The Thomas Hardy Society, will conduct the quiz and the lovely Debbie, owner of the Old Tea House, will provide a delicious buffet for us to nibble in surroundings very familiar to Hardy.

The premises first opened as a tea room in 1902, and still uses traditional china, tablecloths, tiered cake stands and home baking, to create the same comfortable and friendly ambience that Hardy experienced when he was a regular visitor.

The property was built in 1635, and is the oldest ‘freestanding house’ in Dorchester. After the penal laws were introduced, Catholics and other nonconformist religious groups were persecuted and the property once provided a ‘safe’ house for the Abbot.

It still has underground tunnels, a priest hole and the Abbot’s bible was retrieved from its hiding place in the chimney breast during renovations and is now in Dorset Museum.

Over its life-time of almost 400 years, the building has also been a jail, a millinery shop and the home of a 17th Century sea merchant. The building is reputed to be haunted, so be prepared, Thomas Hardy may indeed bless us with his presence!