The three articles that once formed the basis of the last three posts have now been rolled up into a single book, which is now available on Amazon. It is about the village of Upwey, which is now at the northern end of the town of Weymouth. The village is seen through the lenses of King George III, The Wishing Well and Thomas Hardy. There were plenty of surprises for me, and I expect for most readers as well.
The three lenses through which I look at the village may at first seem unconnected. However, King George III visited Upwey’s Wishing Well, and when researching the latter I found that Thomas Hardy went there too. This led me to wonder what else in Upwey might be connected to Thomas Hardy, and what I found seemed to me to be surprising. Another surprise, to go back to George III, was the extent of his visits, and particularly those of his wife, Queen Charlotte. Indeed, these were not the only royals to visit The Wishing Well.
The book is divided into three parts, which reflects the fact that these sections originated in three separate “lockdown projects.” They are provided in the sequence that I wrote them in order to illustrate how researching George III would naturally lead into researching The Wishing Well, and how Thomas Hardy’s presence in Upwey was initially revealed to me through his visit to the same place.
I have tried to make the book relevant to visitors as well as people from the locality. Hopefully it will add to a sense of place for people in this lovely village and will provide the pleasure that comes with knowing more about one’s surroundings.