Go to map Back to search

Stinsford

Nearest town: Dorchester

Site type: churchyard

Access: Public

Church name: St Michael

Diocese: Salisbury

County: Dorset

Country: England

Grid ref: SY712910

Lost yew site: No

Date visited: 27-Mar-12

Recorded by: Peter Norton

Protection & responsibility: Parochial Church Council

Yews recorded at this site: Notable

Notes: This site is noteworthy as the resting place of Thomas Hardy. Though his ashes are in Poets Corner at Westminster Abbey, his heart lies beside his first wife Emma, buried beneath this yew tree in the churchyard along with many other members of his family - there are nine memorials in all. It was Hardy's wish to be buried at Stinsford next to his family. However the authorities at Westminster Abbey thought he should be buried in Poets Corner. Faced with this dilemma it was decided that his heart should be buried at Stinsford and his ashes be interred in the Abbey. Hardy refers to this tree in the poem about Mellstock (the fictional name for Stinsford).