The Abbey at Milton Abbas — Hardy's Middleton Abbey in The Woodlanders. Source of photograph: the Anniversary Edition of the Wessex Novels, 1920, facing VI, 242. Scanned image (2002) by Philip V. Allingham; text by Allingham and George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL.]
According to the editors, many of whose remarks seem based on Thomas Hardy's Wessex (1913) by Herman Lea,
Middleton Abbey, the temporary residence of Mrs. Charmond, had for its model the abbey at Milton Abbas, which gives the place part of its name. The abbey is an ancient building of Saxon foundation, dating back to the fourteenth century. Milton Abbas is an interesting village, with all the houses on both sides of the long, wide street almost exactly similar in size and design, all roofed with thatch. Close beside the abbey-church stands the house imagined as the place of Mrs. Charmond's sojourn.
Bibliography
Hardy, Thomas. The Woodlanders in The Writings of Thomas Hardy in Prose and Verse with Prefaces and Notes in Twenty-One Volumes. Vol. VI. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1920. This edition derives in This edition derives in part from previous editions and the photographs of 1912.
Last modified 19 April 2024