18 CONTEXT 187 : MARCH 2026 DUNCAN MCCALLUM Thomas Hardy: Dorset’s first conservation campaigner? Dorset-born Thomas Hardy, who revived the name Wessex as the setting for most of his novels, was an architect and an active campaigner for historic buildings with SPAB. Thomas Hardy died almost a century ago, but he remains one of the most popular English writers of all time. His 14 novels were written over a period of 25 years; his poems were published over 30 years; and his early career as an architect lasted about 20 years. Yet Hardy’s campaigning to save historic buildings through active, albeit occasional, service to the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) spanned over 45 years. Hardy became a SPAB member in 1881 after he had stopped practising as an architect and Looking up at the tower of Wimborne Minster (Photo: Duncan McCallum) Thomas Hardy was consulted about cracks in Wimborne Minster’s central tower (Photo: Duncan McCallum) was concentrating on his writing. He remained a supporter until his death in 1928. He was involved in at least 16 cases from 1881 to 1926, and from reading the casework correspondence in the SPAB archives, four points are clear: • he was generous in offering his architectural knowledge and experience, • he was happy to use his high-profile literary status to fight for heritage, • the cases he was involved in have many similarities to those we deal with today, • Hardy helped to continue to shine a national spotlight on threatened heritage through the media, by networking and by offering detailed advice, very much following in the path that William Morris had set. Hardy’s involvement sometimes helped achieve a positive outcome for heritage, but it is clear that success was never a given, and in the absence of robust planning and heritage protection legislation many historic buildings were lost in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. This article explores a few of the cases Hardy was involved with. It draws partly on valuable detailed research carried out by former SPAB secretary, Philip Venning, and by Claudius JP Beatty in his 1995 book Thomas Hardy: conservation architect. Given Hardy’s Dorset roots and his setting of most of his literary and poetic outputs in the county, it is no surprise that his casework
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