Special Exhibition
28 May – 30 October 2022
The largest collection of Thomas Hardy objects ever displayed at one time
A major exhibition across four venues – Dorset Museum (Dorchester), Poole Museum, The Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum (Devizes)
Take a fresh look at the Victorian novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy, in the stunning Wessex landscapes that shaped his view of the world. His story will be retold in exciting new ways by our museum collections, from period costumes to personal letters, art to archaeology.
- Four exhibitions, each exploring a different Hardy theme
- A treasure trove of objects that give personal insights into Thomas Hardy’s life
- Many of the objects have never been on public display before
- Each exhibition has a star object on loan from a national museum
Hardy’s Wessex at Dorset Museum
The exhibition at each venue will be different – in Dorset Museum, it explores Hardy’s views on social tensions and animal welfare. Famous as a novelist, poet and social commentator, Hardy never lost touch with his experience of the working-class lives and poverty of rural Dorset. Paintings, writing, costume and drawings will bring his writing and personality to life. The painting The Village Choir by Thomas Webster (loaned by the Victoria and Albert Museum), for example, provides a snapshot of the rural musicians Hardy grew up with and wrote about in his novels.
Hardy had family pets and designed and carved his dog, Wessex’s, tombstone himself. He was also deeply concerned about the welfare of animals and became friends with early animal rights activists. He wrote to the newspapers to protest against performing animals, wrote poems criticising blood sports, and published novels about the link between people and animals.
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Opening hours:
Daily: 9.00am - 4.30pm
Sunday: 10.00am - 4.00pm
Bank Holidays: 10.00am - 4.00pm -
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Rural Wessex

Social tensions and animal welfare
Find out how Hardy felt about the social tensions and inequalities of the time, and how he campaigned against animal cruelty. Then take a walk around Dorchester, the market town that inspired one of Hardy’s most popular novels, The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Discover Hardy’s passion for all living things
As well as standing up for the rights of working people, Hardy campaigned against cruelty to all living things, becoming an animal rights champion.
From his first nature sketch to his controversial article defending the Dorsetshire Labourer, visitors will come to understand Hardy’s humanity and compassion.

Explore these questions:
- What role did Hardy play in the formation of early animal rights societies?
- How did the son of a builder and a servant become one of the most famous men of the 20th century?
- Did this fame sit easily with Hardy?

Highlights for visitors
- Witness a man’s grief at the death of his beloved pet, in Hardy’s hand-drawn tombstone design for his famous dog, Wessex.
- See Hardy’s first childhood watercolour of the landscape around him – and imagine this child who went on to write books that changed the world.








Wessex Words
Take part in our Wessex Words reading challenge this summer, inspired by our Hardy’s Wessex exhibition.
What's on
18 February - 22 June 2023
The Art of Seeing: An exhibition of photographs by Dorchester Camera Club
The Club is delighted to have this opportunity to exhibit some of their members’ prints in the Dorset Museum together with an audio-visual presentation.
Find out more21 March 2023, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Archaeology Highlights Tour
Explore archaeological treasures held by Dorset Museum – from Bronze Age gold to medieval silver - in this volunteer-led tour.
Find out more22 March - 25 June 2023
ARTIST ROOMS: Louise Bourgeois
Explore the work of Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), one of the most important figures of modern and contemporary art. This spring Dorset Museum will show a major presentation of her work in this Artist Rooms touring exhibition featuring works jointly owned by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland.
Find out more22 March 2023, 7:30pm
Cordiera Piano Trio
A varied programme ranging from J.S. Bach’s most revolutionary son to a vivid and exciting contemporary American work by way of two pillars of the standard chamber music repertoire.
Find out more23 March 2023, 5:00pm - 6:30pm
FREE | Museum After Hours
Join us for an opportunity to explore the Museum at this FREE late opening.
Find out more23 March 2023, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Joanna Quinn in conversation with Tracy Chevalier
Spend an evening with Joanna Quinn and best-selling author Tracy Chevalier as they discuss Quinn’s debut novel, The Whalebone Theatre, a brilliant coming-of-age story set in Dorset before and during World War II.
Find out more24 March 2023, 6:00pm - 9:00pm
This is Now
The Friendly Society of Artistic Labourers and Dorset Museum invites you to a spectacular showcase of contemporary art, design, media, music, and performance. Inspired by…
Find out more28 March 2023, 11:00am - 12:00noon
Dorset Museum Highlights Tour
Explore 250 million years of Dorset’s history in this volunteer-led highlights tour of Dorset Museum. Discover Roman mosaics, fossils from the Jurassic Coast, Thomas Hardy manuscripts and the sculptures of Elisabeth Frink – and plenty more along the way.
Find out more1 April 2023, 10:00am to 4:30pm
One day life painting pose
This is a structured class that will take students through the traditional monochrome underpainting approach to painting the figure in oils. Same pose all day…
Find out moreSurvey of your visit
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We look forward to seeing you again at Dorset Museum in the future.
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