Have They Come For Me? A guided walk tracing Law and Literature in Dorchester with Mark Damon Chutter
19th October @ 11:00 – 13:00
Law and Literature in Dorchester: Meet at The Thomas Hardy Statue at the Top O’ Town
Join Mark Damon Chutter, Chairman and Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society, for a fascinating walk tracing the justice system in Dorchester, and some of the literary narratives surrounding it. These will include:
*‘Hanging’ Judge Jeffreys, who ordered the Monmouth Rebels’ execution during the Bloody Assizes and placed their heads on the spikes of St Peter’s Church.
*The Dorset Tolpuddle Martyrs, tried in the Shire Hall and sentenced for their religious beliefs at Galllows Hill ( Frink Statues).
* Thomas Hardy’s novels, including The Mayor of Casterbridge in which Henchard contravenes the moral code of the town and suffers from the lawlessness of the village of Durnover (Fordington); Mary Channing who it is suggested poisoned her husband in 1706 and was then burned at the stake in Maumbury Rings, and Martha Brown, the possible inspiration for the eponymous heroine Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
Meet at the Thomas Hardy Statue at the Top O’ Town at 11.00
At 1.00 pm the walk will end at the historic Old Tea House, formerly a prison and holding place, where there will be an optional cream tea ( £10.00 per person. Please book tea directly with the Old Tea House on 01305 263719)
Tickets £14.00
Tickets are not available for general purchase until 29th August.
If you are a Festival Friend, tickets are available from 18th August, please log in to your account here to order your tickets.
