



Produced by Shaun Pinder and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
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Internet Archive)






[Illustration: DORCHESTER FROM THE MEADOWS]


THE HEART OF WESSEX


Described by SIDNEY HEATH

Pictured by E. W. HASLEHUST


BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED
LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY




    Beautiful England


    _Volumes Ready_:

    OXFORD
    THE ENGLISH LAKES
    CANTERBURY
    SHAKESPEARE-LAND
    THE THAMES
    WINDSOR CASTLE
    CAMBRIDGE
    NORWICH AND THE BROADS
    THE HEART OF WESSEX
    THE PEAK DISTRICT
    THE CORNISH RIVIERA
    DICKENS-LAND




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                       Page

Dorchester from the Meadows                   _Frontispiece_

Hangman's Cottage, Dorchester                             8

Puddletown                                               14

Bere Regis                                               20

Portisham                                                26

Weymouth and Portland                                    32

Gateway, Poxwell Manor House                             38

Lulworth Cove                                            42

Wool House                                               46

Wareham                                                  50

Corfe Castle                                             54

Poole Harbour from Studland                              58




[Illustration: _HIGH STREET, DORCHESTER._

                  THE HEART OF WESSEX]




DORCHESTER AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD


As all the world is beginning to realize, that portion of the country
immortalized by Thomas Hardy, in his great romances of rural life,
lies in one of the most delectable regions of south-west England; and
although, for the purpose of