Dr Diane Duffy’s has visited Dorchester, Dorset (aka Casterbridge, Wessex) to explore the life, work and inspiration of Thomas Hardy. Far From the Madding Crowd is the subject of our 2025-26 study sessions.
After Gabriel Oak is ruined when his newly acquired flock are driven to their death by his inexperienced sheep dog, he turns towards Casterbridge for the Hiring Fair in order to find employment. The Hiring Fairs occurred annually, as Hardy explains:
We are brought on to a day in February, on which was held the yearly statute or hiring fair in the county-town of Casterbridge. At one end of the street stood from two to three hundred blithe and hearty labourers waiting upon Chance.
Dorchester is still Dorset’s county-town with its civic buildings — the Corn Exchange, seen in the background with its distinctive brickwork and clock tower, and the Shire Hall. The Dorset County Museum is next door and houses an excellent Hardy exhibition.
Gabriel’s predicament draws out a significant psychological comment from Hardy:
there was left to him a dignified calm he had never before known, and that indifference to fate which, though it often makes a villain of a man, is the basis of his sublimity when it does not.
Fate and Chance play a large part in many of Hardy’s novels, so was it Fate or Chance that allows Oak to organise Bathsheba’s disorganised workforce and therefore save her hayricks from destruction?
Diane Duffy
Click the images to enlarge and see caption.
Use the links in the list of study sessions to see Diane’s Extracts and Points to Ponder for each session.
List of Study Sessions
Session 2 (from 2pm, Tuesday 25 November 2025) – Chapters 12-24
Session 3 (from 2pm, Tuesday 27 January 2026) – Chapters 25-35
Session 4 (from 2pm, Tuesday, 24 February 2026) – Chapters 36-46
Session 5 (from 2pm, Tuesday 31 March 2026) – Chapters 47-52
Session 6 (from 2pm, Tuesday 28 April 2026)
We’ll consider some of the novel’s themes, including setting, gender, religion, humour, and Victorian society. These can be compared with Gaskell and her treatment of similar subjects
Doors open from 1pm: feel free to bring a packed lunch. The study session and Zoom meeting will begin at 2pm (UK time).
Simply come along and pay on the door, or use the Book Now button (no booking fee). Diane will also run the sessions on Zoom, so if you can’t join us in Knutsford, join us online. You’ll receive the Zoom link with your ticket.