Visiting The Graves Of Thomas Hardy & T.E Lawrence.

It was a nice day yesterday, so me and a friend of mine decided to go exploring. I thought it would be interesting to see if we could find the graves of some more famous people. We headed for the tiny village of Stinsford on the outskirts of Dorchester where I heard the heart of the great writer Thomas Hardy was buried. It did not take long to get there as Dorchester is only 53 miles south of Westbury. I will just tell you a grisly story I read about the heart of Thomas Hardy. It was his wish to be buried in the churchyard at Stinsford because that was the church in which he was baptised in 1840. His first wife Emma was already buried there. 

Under The Greenwood Tree.

Hardy lived at nearby Max Gate with his second wife Florence where he died in 1928. Because of his great novels, Far From The Madding Crowd, Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Jude The Obscure, The Mayor Of Casterbridge and many more, as well as his poetry, his reputation was almost as great as Charles Dickens. The nation felt that he should be buried in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey. A compromise was reached to keep everybody happy. His heart would be removed and buried at Stinsford and then he would be cremated, and his ashes interred in Westminster Abbey. 

Hardy's window.

This is where we get to the macabre bit. A doctor was called to his house where his body lay, and he performed the quite simple operation of removing the heart which was placed in a dish in the room. Mrs Hardy offered the doctor a glass of sherry in gratitude, and they retired to the drawing room for a few minutes to talk. Now, Thomas Hardy had a favourite cat called Cobby who entered the empty room where Hardy lay, discovered his heart, and promptly ate most of it. Minutes later Mrs Hardy found the horrific scene. The story goes that the cat was immediately destroyed and allegedly was buried in the churchyard. It is said that many people remarked on the sudden disappearance of Cobby after Hardy’s death.

C Day-Lewis

My personal view is the story is a myth that was probably invented in a Dorchester tavern one night and the story spread. There is one thing that I find strange though. During my research I found some footage of the internment of Hardy’s heart. (I have shared it to this blog page if you want to see it) A man’s heart is roughly the size of a large apple, it would easily fit in a box about four inches square. The casket the priest is carrying to the grave is large enough to contain a cat!. Why put his heart in a box that big? It makes one wonder. Anyway, We found the picturesque little church at Stinsford quite easily and it only took about two minutes to locate the grave which was in between those of Emma and Florence. They lie there peacefully in the shade of an old tree. I wonder if it is the tree referred to in his novel Under The Greenwood Tree because that book is set in the village of Mellstock which was Hardy’s fictionalisation of Stinsford. The tree would definitely have been there during his lifetime. Inside the church we found an amazing stained glass window memorial to Hardy. Also, just a few yards away from Hardy we found the last resting place of Cecil Day-Lewis who was the Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He was also the father of the great actor Daniel Day-Lewis. He was a great admirer of Thomas Hardy and it was his request to be buried in the same place.

Me & T.E. Lawrence.

From Stinsford we drove on to the nearby village of Moreton where we found the grave of T.E. Lawrence who many people know better as Lawrence Of Arabia. He was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident near here in 1935. Apparently, there is a roadside memorial marking the spot where he died, but we did not find that. He lived nearby in a tiny cottage called Clouds Hill which his brother donated to the National Trust. Mourners at his funeral in 1935 included Winston Churchill, E. M. Forster and Lady Astor. Next to the quiet plot where Lawrence is buried, we found a walled garden which is a beautiful place with ponds and all kinds of exotic plants and trees and modern sculptures, and a nice café where had a cup of tea. Well worth a visit if you are ever in Moreton.

Approaching Lulworth Cove.

After that we had enough of history and culture for one day and decided to head for Lulworth Cove. The plan was to hopefully find a nice pub or a fish and chip restaurant for a spot of lunch. When we got there though it was apparent that everyone in Britain seemed to have the same idea. Because of the nice weather, school half-term holidays, and the fact that because of Covid nobody goes abroad anymore, the place was jammed. We took one look at the packed carpark and decided to be far from the madding crowd. 

Compton Abbas.

We headed towards home and near Shaftesbury stopped at Compton Abbas airfield. This is a tiny little airfield for light aircraft. It also has a café, so we had a bite to eat while watching the planes landing and taking off which was quite good fun. We finally got back to Westbury by 5.00, in time for a couple of well deserved pints in The Crown. I must say after a year of not going anywhere it is nice to be able to get out again.