Thomas Hardy's DorsetHopkins, R. Thurston (Robert Thurston)
History
Thomas Hardy's Dorset
Hopkins, R. Thurston (Robert Thurston)
Dorset (England); Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928
And she is very small and very green
And full of little lanes all dense with flowers
That wind along and lose themselves between
Mossed farms, and parks, and fields of quiet sheep.
And in the hamlets, where her stalwarts sleep,
Low bells chime out from old elm-hidden towers.
GEOFFREY HOWARD.
Starting from Salisbury, the pilgrim of the Hardy country, when he has
passed through Barford St Martin and Burcome, might think it worth while
to take the road to Tisbury when he arrives at Swallowcliff. The large
village of Tisbury is situated on the north side of the River Nadder, on
rising ground, and is about twelve miles west of Salisbury. There is
much of interest to be seen, and the spacious church, in the flat land
at the bottom of the hill and close to the river, is well worth a visit.
It contains several monuments to the Arundels, and on an iron bracket
near the easternmost window is a good sixteenth-century helmet, which
has been gilded in places and is ornamented with a small band of
scroll-work round the edges; there is an added spike for a crest. It is
a real helmet, not a funeral one; the rivets for the lining remain
inside. Tradition says it belonged to the first Lord Arundel of Wardour,
who died in 1639. All the seats are of oak and modern, but against the
walls is some good linen-fold panelling of the seventeenth century or
very late sixteenth century. In the sacrarium is a fine brass to
Lawrence Hyde of West Hatch. He was the great-grandfather of Queen Mary,
1689, and Queen Anne, 1702. He is represented standing in a church in
front of his six sons, facing his wife and four daughters. The
inscription is:
"Here lyeth Lawrence Hyde of West Hatch Esqr. who had issue by Anne
his wife six sons and four daughters and died in the year of the
incarnation of Our Lord God 1590. Beati qui moriuntur in domino."
The churchyard is a very large one, and the old causeway which was used
in times of flood is most picturesque. Two massive black grave slabs at
once arrest the eye. In plain, square lead lettering one reads:
JOHN LOCKWOOD KIPLING
C.I.E.
1837-1911.
ALICE MACDONALD
WIFE OF
JOHN LOCKWOOD KIPLING
1910
[Illustration: STOCKS AT TOLLARD ROYAL
(Seven miles south of Tisbury)]
The village of Tisbury existed in the seventh century, the earliest
extant spelling of the name being "Tissebiri" or "Dysseburg," and there
was a monastery over which an abbot named Wintra ruled about 647. Mr
Paley Baildon, F.S.A., who has devoted considerable time to the
investigation of the origin of place names, thinks that without doubt
Tisbury is derived from Tissa's-burgh, Tissa or Tyssa being a personal
name and owner of the estate; hence it came to be known as
Tissa's-burgh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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