Thomas
Hardy and Dorchester Thomas
Hardy and Dorchester Hardy's Dorset with its County Town of Dorchester would seem a million miles from the life and times that we live in. Here are a selection of articles detailing a lifestyle that is both fascinating and horrifying to our 21st Century morality but was part of the underpining of Hardy's own characters lives.
I
The Dorchester area has an archeological history dating back over 4000 years to the New Stone Age, when the great hill-fort of Maiden Castle was inhabited by Neolithic tribes. Following invasion by the Romans in AD 43, the new town of Durnovaria was established as a major garrison town and trading centre. Over the years, excavation and building developments have produced a wealth of findings which have created a comprehensive and detailed account of the town's ancient history.
Dorchester continued to thrive through Anglo-Saxon times and then the Middle Ages, when it was established as the County Town of Dorset.
In more modern times, Dorchester has been associated with several notable events, including the Bloody Assize of Judge Jeffreys in 1685 and the trials of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 1834. The table and chair used by judge jeffreys is now in the town Council Chamber. A new chapter in the history of Dorchester began in 1840 with the birth of its most famous son, the poet and novelist Thomas Hardy. The life and works of Thomas Hardy form a strong part of the cultural background of Dorchester, which is recognised worldwide as the centre of attraction for students and followers of this great literary figure.
II
The County town of Dorset, and the Casterbridge of Hardys' famous novel.
Here also is the renowned Dorset County Museum, and, just outside the town,
the imposing Celtic Iron Age Hill fort of Maiden Castle, and the largest pre-Christian
monument in Britain. During the civil war, Dorchester changed sides several
times. But two events in particular, which occurred here, seem to epitomise
both the religious fervour, and the reckless courage of those desperate times.
In 1642 a Catholic priest named Hugh Greene was seized after he refused to
leave the country, and dragged up to Gallows Hill to be executed for his beliefs.
This unfortunate soul was hanged, but as was common practice then, cut down
before the rope had done its' work. He then, whilst still alive, had his entrails
cut out by the local surgeon, Mathew Barfoot, and after that, his heart, which
was then displayed on a pikestaff before being cast in to a fire. Not content
with these hideous acts, the crowd was further amused when Greenes' corpse
had its' limbs and head cut off. The head was then used as a football by them,
before the final desecration, that of having sticks inserted in to both eyes,
ears, nostrils and the mouth ... The second incident involved Francis Sydenham,
and occurred on the 30th November 1644. Francis was at Poole with his men,
when a large Royalist force of 300 cavalry led by Sir Lewis Dyve appeared
outside of the towns' wall. They did not attack, but contented themselves
with hurling insults at the soldiers of the Poole garrison. It was then that
Francis saw a Major Williams amongst the hecklers, the very man who had murdered
his mother three months earlier at Wynford Eagle Manor. Incensed, Francis
Sydenham and sixty of his men rode out of Poole and headed straight for the
cavaliers, who turned and fled. Francis chased them all the way to Dorchester
(24 miles) and once there turned to his men and cried ' Give the dragoons
no quarter and stick close to me, for I shall now avenge my mothers' innocent
blood or die in this place'. He then spurred his horse on and charged headlong
into the terrified Royalists, fighting his way with grim determination towards
Major Williams, whom he shot dead, and whose body fell under his horse. Williams
was possibly John Williams of Plumber , 3rd son of John Williams of Herringston.
Public executions were for centuries one of the most popular forms of entertainment in England and Dorchester as an assize town certainly witnessed its fair share. Lurid descriptions of these spectacles abound in the literature, with immense crowds of rich and poor alike jostling to obtain the best view-point, their mood varying according to their sympathies with the criminal.
Maumbury Rings in Dorchester had been used as the site for public executions for centuries. Originally a Neolithic henge monument, but adapted by the Romans as an amphitheatre and finally used as a fort in the Civil War. The arena with tiers of seats on all sides provided everyone with a good view and allowed a large crowd to be kept under control - as was the purpose of the amphitheatre in Roman times. It was still in use as a place of execution until as late as 1767.
In the 18th century a new prison was built on the site of the medieval castle and public executions from that time on were performed outside of the prison gates, on what is today the prison car park in North Square. It was here that the young Thomas Hardy witnessed the first of several public hangings when he arrived in Dorchester after leaving school in 1856, and was articled to John Hicks, a Dorchester architect whose offices were also on North Square.
The memory of his first public execution (Martha Brown who killed her husband in a crime of the heart) undoubtedly inspired the novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles". His morbid fascination with public hangings also seems to date from this time and he seems to have made great efforts to attend subsequent executions and get a good view. He was therefore almost certainly present in 1858 for what turned out to be the last public hanging in Dorset.
After 1834
Dorchester Poor Law Union was formed on 2nd of January 1836. Its operation
was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 43 in number, representing
its 39 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate
numbers of Guardians if more than one):
Dorset: Athelhampton, Bradford Peverell, Broadmayne, Burleston, Charminster, Chilfrome, Compton Abbas, Compton Valence, Dewlish, Dorchester All Saints, Dorchester Holy Trinity (2), Dorchester St Peter (2), Fordington (2), Frampton, Frome Vauchurch, Kingston Russell, Little Bredy, Long Bredy, Maiden Newton, Piddlehinton, Piddletown (2), Stinsford, Stratton, Tincleton, Toller Fratrum, Toller Porcorum, Tolpuddle, Warnwell, West Knighton, West Stafford, Whitcombe, Winterborne Came, Winterborne Herringstone, Winterborne Monckton, Winterborne St Martin, Winterborne Steepleton, Winterborne Abbas, Woodsford, Wynford Eagle. Later Additions: Watercombe (from 1862)
The population falling within the union at the 1831 census had been 14,048 - ranging from Winterborne Herringstone (population 46) to the combined parishes of Dorchester (3,033). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1833-35 had been £7,041.
The new Union workhouse was built in 1836 on Damers Road to the west of the town. Designed by George Wilkinson, it followed the popular cruciform plan. A chapel was added in about 1900.
The site layout can be seen on the 1929 25-inch OS map, by which time the establishment had become the Dorchester Poor Law Institution.
Mention the village of Tolpuddle and most people will be able to put the word 'martyrs' to it Talk about the Battle of Trafalgar and the name of Captain Hardy, Lord Nelson's estimable comrade in arms is inextricably linked to that great victory, the good Captain himself being born at Portesham near Weymouth.
On the subject of quality literature, the other even more famous Dorset Hardy,the novelist, Thomas, has very few equals, whilst William Barnes the Dorset dialect poet is also revered the world over for the unashamed love he had for the County of his birth . His poems conjuring up the real and ageless landscape in which Hardy's characters lived their lives.
But what of Dorset before the 19th century? 18th century Dorset was a place where smuggling was rife and great fortunes made by the merchants of Poole, plying the legitimate Newfoundland Trade. But in the 17th century, as with every other County in England, a dark shadow descended across the landscape, a shadow cast by civil war. This often pitted brother against brother, and father against son, as their conscience dictated. A time when the King, Charles 1 declared war on his own Parliament, and on his own people. Dorset's' civil war is largely forgotten today. The men and women who fought and died in it, lost in anonymity. But only scratch the surface and those brave souls and their momentous story can live again.
Many sites connected with this hazy saga, and peopled by those forgotten characters, can still be visited today in 'modern' Dorset. It is still possible to follow the trail blazed by the remarkable Sydenham brothers of Wynford Eagle, who fought for the Parliamentary side throughout the length and breadth of this unique English County, and left behind them a story worthy of any great novel or film. A story which culminated in an intricate plot to deliver the important port of Weymouth into the hands of the royalist forces, and would ultimately end in glorious death for one of the Sydenham brothers...
Their tale can be pieced together by visiting the following historic sites in Dorset. Some are well known, others less so, but what occurred there was real ...
AND IT WAS WRITTEN IN BLOOD...
Customs records show that in 1764 ships of the East India Company smuggled tea into this country estimated at seven million pounds annually. Smugglers had by now refined the art of hiding goods and of avoiding duties on their imported goods. Below are some of the methods used:
Tea cases were fitted between the vessel's timbers and were made to resemble the floors of the ship. 18 lbs. of tea could be hidden under the cape or petticoat trouser worn by the fishermen and pilots of the vessels.
Cotton bags made into the shape of the crown of a hat, a cotton waistcoat, and a cotton bustle and thigh pieces carried in all 30lbs. of tea.
Tobacco, another taxed commodity, was valuable contraband. Made into ropes of two strands, it was coiled with the real rope in the lugger, and was even put into a special compartment in casks of imported bones which were used for manufacturing glue.
The wooden fenders slung over the sides of a ship were hollowed out and filled with tobacco.
There were other ways of bringing in extra tobacco without actual smuggling. As tobacco readily absorbs moisture from the air, it increases in weight in damp localities. One manufacturer avoided paying too much duty on his cargo by establishing a series of drying rooms on one of the Channel Islands. This room was heated to 90 degrees and he despatched large quantities of leaf tobacco to the depot.
After it had dried out, the tobacco was tightly packed into barrels and then imported to England. He paid the duty on the dried tobacco, thus tobacco weighing 100 lbs. could, by drying, be reduced to 60 lbs. It was then taken to a factory, unpacked, and exposed to the air, and regained its original weight. A handsome profit was made by the manufacturer. Later, a law was passed imposing duty on tobacco "according to the quantity of moisture contained therein". Since the rate was higher if the tobacco was dried, then there was no point in the tobacco being dry.
Spirits, both brandy and gin, had intriguing journeys into our ports. Brandy was chiefly imported from France. Excellent cognac was shipped from Roscoff. Gin, popular with the troops who had taken part in the Dutch wars, was imported from the Low Countries. Flushing exported gin chiefly to the East Coast. Brandy or gin tubs, roped singly or in pairs and anchored with sinking stones, could be cut off easily and left with markers if Revenue Cutters were in sight. Tubs of spirits were packed into the hollowed keels of boats, hidden under false bottoms, or fitted into rafts or punts which were floated on a flood tide to persons waiting on the shore.
"The kegs of spirits, roped together, were sunk and marked with a float, about one quarter of a mile from the shore, in the Pitts Deep stream, at a spot known as Brandy Hole. The kegs were floated ashore by punts, as by this way it was easier to sink them if a coastguard arrived.
The kegs were carried from the shore by a gang of local men to carts which were waiting a short distance away, but if dangerous for the carts to load up, the kegs were easily slung across the shoulders, generally one in front and two behind. The pay was 2/ 6d. per keg."
| A SMUGGLER'S SONG If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet, Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street. Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie, Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! Five and twenty ponies, |
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