Hardy and Architecture Study Day

This interesting Study Day will take place in the Casterbridge Room of The King's Arms, a favourite of Thomas Hardy, mentioned numerous times in his works, where he wrote some of the Mayor of Casterbridge and took many of his famous visitors.

Son of a builder and stonemason, Thomas Hardy became apprenticed at 16 to a local architect and church restorer. The skills he learned stayed with him, engendered a life-long love of architecture and assisted him with the building of Max Gate after his marriage, and greatly influenced his writing.

Hardy came to believe that architecture should be celebrated precisely for the inconsistencies and imperfections that many had tried ruthlessly to obliterate in the name of restoration. For Hardy, architectural preservation meant the preservation not only of aesthetic qualities but of human associations.

Thomas Hardy was an architect for both Hicks and Crickmay.

Saturday 22nd February 2025

Itinerary