Hand of Ethelberta Country: Corfe Castle and Swanage

While in Dorset, I had to visit the Purbeck area, taking in Swanage and Corfe Castle, as alongside the scenes from London, this is where Thomas Hardy's The Hand of Ethelberta is set.

We managed to get to Corfe Castle and Swanage with a day-saver ticket that covered the Jurassic coast bus route which also takes in Wool, Wareham, Monkey World, Weymouth etc. 

However, we did end up riding in circles (goodness knows how many times we passed Monkey World and went through Wareham).

Having visited Wareham before, Corfe Castle was our first stop on the itinerary:

If my memory serves me right, in The Hand of Ethelberta, a comedy of manners, Ethelberta Petherwin rides on a donkey to Corfe Castle to attend a history conference and/or to meet one of her several suitors.

No matter where we looked, we were greeted with something interesting, a mansion house hotel, for example:

Corfe Castle, perched in the distance:

A pub on stilts:

We should've made time for a pint in here, of course:

No matter the price.

Unlike much of Hardy's fiction, The Hand of Ethelberta offers a happy ending for the main characters, with no tragic deaths, as Ethelberta marries/tames the lecherous aristocrat, Lord Mountclere, and her younger suitor, Christopher Julian, weds her naive and innocent sister, Picotee.

At one point, we found ourselves at the foot of Corfe Castle:

We thought about going up to the place, until seeing the entrance fee:

After this, we found ourselves looking at the church of St. Edward, King & Martyr:

 Built during the 12th century when Christian faith was still fully alive.

My friend is a kind of half-believer who loves visiting Anglican churches and graveyards for the distant echo of Christian faith that they offer (the kind of Philip Larkin Church Going experience).

At the bus stop for Swanage, we came across some war memorials, which offered another form of solemnity:

Fronting a small cemetery:

Next up, our short visit to Swanage did not really do justice to the scenic resort and its beautiful seafront:

People were genuinely enjoying themselves and the place wasn't gaudy, it compared favourably to the much bigger, Bournemouth.

We should've really strolled down the seafront to take in the old houses mentioned in The Hand of Ethelberta.

In The Hand of Ethelberta, Swanage is called Knollsea where the old (but half loveable) rogue, Lord Mountclere, lives.

While waiting for our bus out of Swanage, we had a quick look at the train station:

With its pleasant, old-worldly feel:

 We even had time to look at a few buildings perched high above:

 Hotels, churches, and civic halls, they all looked great.

Wished we'd stayed longer in Swanage, properly exploring the place.