17th century manor house that featured in Tess of the d’Urbervilles goes on the market [tr]

UK Daily Mail ^ | November 15, 2019 | Chantelle Edumds

[C19fan]

A historic 17th century manor house that featured in author Thomas Hardy's seminal novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles has gone on the market for £850,000.

Woolbridge Manor, in East Stoke, near Wool, Dorset, dates back to the early 17th century and was once owned by the Turberville family.

It is from here that Hardy got the idea for the title of his 1891 book, with the red brick and stone property given the fictitious name of Wellbridge House.

In the novel, newlyweds Tess Durbeyfield and Angel Clare spend their ill-fated honeymoon in the manor.

[edwinland]

that furniture!

[EvilCapitalist]

That wicker sofa with the pink cushions is hideous.

[edwinland]

Might have been original though:

"Tess gazed desperately at the pile of furniture. The cold sunlight of this spring evening peered invidiously upon the crocks and kettles, upon the bunches of dried herbs shivering in the breeze, upon the brass handles of the dresser, upon the wicker-cradle they had all been rocked in, and upon the well-rubbed clock-case..."

[rktman]

Uber-ville? What’s next? Lyft-ton?

[BipolarBob]

I can’t bid, I only have dollars.

[bgill]

That front lawn needs Carl Spackler.

Yikes, $1.2 million for nothing but a pile of rock. The new owners will have to spend 10 times that much to shore up the walls alone. Maybe they can have a garage sale and get 50 cents for that pink couch.

[Cecily]

Bare walls too. Looks like they had no money to decorate this house.

[Peter Libra]

Thank you for posting this Daily Mail coverage. Brought up as a child in Dorchester, Dorset in the 1930's. Somehow gives a glimpse of old Dorset and the wide difference between it's residents. My favourite novel by Thomas Hardy was "The Return of the Native". My two daughters have middle names Eustacia and Thomasin. After the two heroines of the novel.

Life for the labourer was pretty brutal at times. Hardy conceded later that he painted a rosy picture of their lives. As against the grim reality of threatening poverty and unemployment.

[SunkenCiv]

Monty Python - Novel Writing

[Tax-chick]

Lovely. I’ll bet it’s haunted and also has bats.