With the help of specially commissioned drawings by Matthew Rice, Jeremy Musson considers the abiding presence of the stone-built manor house in the stories of Thomas Hardy.

Fig 1: In Far From the Madding Crowd, Gabriel Oak defends Weatherbury Farm (Waterson Manor) against the modernising ideas of Sergeant Troy, who declaims from a window.
With the help of specially commissioned drawings by Matthew Rice, Jeremy Musson considers the abiding presence of the stone-built manor house in the stories of Thomas Hardy.