Knollsea Church. Source of photograph: The Hand of Ethelberta in the Anniversary Edition of the Wessex Novels, 1920, based in part on previous editions and the photographs of 1912. Facing p. 406.
Knollsea Church, where Ethelberta is secretly married to Lord Mountclere, was drawn from St. Mary's Church, situated in the village of Swanage, once a mere fishing village, but now a rising watering- place. The most interesting portion of the town nowadays centres at the old church with its "square, unembattled tower," close to which is the mill, and several stone-built and stone-roofed cottages -- all congruous with the date when Ethelberta is imagined to have visited the little town
[These remarks by the anonymous editors often seem to be based on Thomas Hardy's Wessex (1913) by Herman Lea -- PVA].
Hardy, Thomas. The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1912.
Last modified 24 August 2002