Hardy’s Dorset
Discover the life and work of Dorset’s famous novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) and dive into key themes of his personal and professional life.
A recreation of Hardy’s study includes his desk and personal belongings from his home at Max Gate on Dorchester’s outskirts. The Hardy’s Life room has childhood toys, family portraits, musical instruments – and music from the Hardy family’s music books. Hardy’s Writing features original manuscripts and touchscreens for browsing digital manuscripts and personal letters. In Hardy’s Wessex, you can explore his inspirations for locations on a touchscreen map, and see paintings that bring them alive.
Download the large print guide-
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Opening hours:
Dorset Museum & Art Gallery
Daily: 10.00am - 5.00pm
TASTE Café
Daily: 9.00am - 4.00pm
Sunday: 10:00am - 4:00pm
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Admissions:
10% discount for Adult and Young Person Unlimited Ticket booked online using discount code DM01
BOOK ONLINE SAVE 10% -
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For more information
[email protected]
What's Inside
Hardy's Study
Many objects on display are from the UNESCO-inscribed Thomas Hardy Memorial collection, gifted to the Museum in 1937.
The Story Space
A quiet area in this gallery, where you can discover other Dorset writers.
Highlights
1920s
Thomas Hardy’s scarf
This scarf is one of the few pieces of Hardy’s clothing that survive. When Hardy died, his wife Florence asked their gardener Bertie Stephens to…
c.1890
Katharine Hardy’s red dress
Hardy’s younger sister Katharine (1856-1940) was a schoolteacher and had this dress made in Dorchester. With its luxurious red silk and bustle, it is reminiscent…
Late 19th century
Watercolours of Dorset landscapes
Henry Joseph Moule The first curator of Dorset Museum and a friend of Thomas Hardy, Henry Moule regularly went out into the countryside surrounding Dorchester…
c.1930-1931
Maquette of the Statue of Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) at the Top ‘o Town
Thomas Hardy Eric Kennington Bronze…
c.1890
Perpetual calendar
After Hardy’s first wife Emma died in 1912, Hardy kept his desk calendar set to the date he met her – ‘That never to be…
1890-1895
Thomas Hardy’s writing pens
Hardy wrote Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure with these pens, dipping the nibs repeatedly into the inkwell on his desk. He engraved…
1886-1887
Original manuscript of The Woodlanders
The Woodlanders is the first novel Hardy worked on in his new study at Max Gate and was partly inspired by the village of Melbury…
1871
Original manuscript of Under the Greenwood Tree
Hardy wrote Under the Greenwood Tree in 1871 when he was living at Weymouth and Higher Bockhampton. He set the story in Mellstock, a village…
1856
Juno I watercolour by Thomas Hardy
Thomas painted his pet rabbit when he was 16. He was interested in art and nature, knew many plants and animals by their country names…
1830s
Childhood mug belonging to Thomas Hardy
The mug Hardy drank from as a boy shows pictures of rural workers – a shepherd and shepherdess.