FULLY BOOKED

Dorchester Through the Lens of Thomas Hardy | Mark Chutter

4 June 2023, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Join Mark Chutter, Chairman and Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society, to explore how Hardy presents the town of Dorchester in his writing. The talk will consider the lens through which Hardy presents the town as ‘partly real, partly dream country’ within his fictional Wessex.

Hardy’s fictional name for Dorchester was ‘Casterbridge’. The talk will explore the descriptions and liminal private and public performance spaces of Casterbridge, described by the writer as ‘compact as a box of dominoes  – it was untouched by the faintest sprinkle of modernism and it bespoke Old Rome in every alley, shop and precinct’.

The talk will consider Hardy’s 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, as well as the short story

‘The Withered Arm’ (1888), and the poems ‘The Ruined Maid’ and ‘The Curate’s Kindness – A Workhouse Irony’.

Mark Damon Chutter is the Chairman and Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society. He has published papers in the Thomas Hardy Journal and for the Times Educational Supplement (TES). He has been teaching for over 25 years and was shortlisted for the TES’s ‘Most Innovative Teacher of the Year’ and ‘Teacher of the Year’ awards.

  • Opening hours:

    Dorset Museum & Art Gallery
    Daily: 10.00am - 5.00pm

    TASTE Café
    Daily: 9.00am - 4.00pm
    Sunday: 10:00am - 4:00pm

  • Admissions:

    10% discount for Adult and Young Person Unlimited Ticket booked online using discount code DM01

    BOOK ONLINE SAVE 10%
  • Dorset Museum

    High West Street
    Dorchester DT1 1XA

    View Map

Special Display

4 July – 23 September 2024

Fashioning our World

This exhibition special display showcases a project with local young people working alongside Dorset Museum & Art Gallery team as part of Fashioning our World with Salisbury Museum.

Find out more

Community Exhibition

10 July - 23 October 2024.

Sensing the Past

"Sensing the Past" was a collaborative and co-produced project involving The Dorset Blind Association, Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, and Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre.

Find out more

Special Exhibition

19 July - 3 November 2024

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the world-famous exhibition from the Natural History Museum, is returning to Dorset Museum & Art Gallery

Find out more

Talk

23 September 2024, 12:00noon - 1:00pm

Nature Heals | Trevor Parsons

Trevor Parsons is a local photographer with an amazing story to tell about the healing power of photography and nature.

Find out more

FULLY BOOKED

25 September 2024, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Store Tour

Join our Collections Team for an opportunity to explore behind the scenes in the Museum’s Collections Discovery Centre.

Find out more

Storytelling

26 September 2024, 10:00am - 10:30am

Storytime at the Museum

Come and join us for fun-filled Storytime where you can listen to some amazing tales in our Community Space at the Museum.

Find out more

FULLY BOOKED

28 September 2024, 9:30am - 5pm

Cerne Giant and other Wessex Hill Figures

The Cerne Abbas Giant is one of the most recognisable and talked about hill figures in the UK. This special conference draws upon recent excavations and new research by the National Trust, led by Martin Papworth, and offers the opportunity to explore the giant in relationship to other significant hill figures in the region.

Find out more

Culture Club

Wednesday 2nd October 2024, 18:30-21:00

Culture Club – Wildlife Photography: A Look at Dorset Naturally

Join us for an evening of Dorset Nature Photography. We'll have a talk from professional nature and landscape photographer Mike Read, in which he will take us through "A Look at Dorset Naturally", and an exclusive opportunity to explore the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition after hours.

Find out more

Storytelling

10 October 2024, 10:00am - 10:30am

Storytime at the Museum

Come and join us for fun-filled Storytime where you can listen to some amazing tales in our Community Space at the Museum.

Find out more