Thomas Hardy in Sussex – what Dorset author’s love poems reveal about his connections to Worthing

Howard Payton has been inspired by the Dorset author and poet throughout his career but back when he was a teenager, living at Findon Place while studying at West Sussex College of Art, he had no idea that his hero had visited the village - and on a frequent basis.

Howard said: "My first encounter with the work of Thomas Hardy was at school in Worthing when we studied Far From The Madding Crowd in English literature lessons. This had a profound effect on me and became an inspiration for the rest of my working life. I spent many memorable days exploring the South Downs and also working part-time on local farms."

Howard was at West Sussex College of Art from 1968 to 1972 and then attended the London Film School in Covent Garden, where he directed a drama documentary about Findon Place based on old photographs of the house and its occupants, dated between 1890 and 1905.

Howard said: "I then had a successful freelance career in film and photography, and I also later took on a farm in Devon with my wife Alison, where I could keep sheep and cattle and sheepdogs. My pride and joy was my 100-year-old shepherd's hut, which I still have where we now live in Dorset."

Howard discovered that Thomas Hardy had a strong connection with Findon for a time in the 1860s and the author was a frequent visitor at The Running Horse Inn, on Nepcote Green.

Howard explained: "In early 1861, Thomas Hardy met Eliza Nicholls, whose family was then living in Dorset. She was working as a ladies’ maid in London and he was training to be an architect.

"After a short courtship, he proposed to her and they became engaged. This lasted for several years and when she went to stay with her parents, who had taken over The Running Horse Inn in Findon, Thomas was a frequent visitor.

"During this time, he made some drawings of the parish church next to Findon Place and also wrote about Tolmare Pond beside Long Furlong.

"By 1866, this relationship had broken down and he started going out with Eliza’s younger sister Mary Jane Nicholls. When that relationship also broke down, she courted with Harry Beach, who was at the time a groom at Findon Place, and they were married at the church nearby in 1869."

Howard remains devoted to Far From the Madding Crowd and directed the play with the New Hardy Players in Dorchester as part of his drama series of Hardy works.

He said: "I had the pleasure of talking over some of my ideas for this with Terence Stamp, who played Sergeant Troy in the film, when he once visited Dorchester for the Hardy Society conference."

Athelhampton House, in Puddletown, Dorset, was an inspiration for Far From The Madding Crowd, as Hardy visited the Tudor manor house on many occasions, and the current owner, Giles Keating, is now an authority on his work.

Last year, Giles asked Howard to direct a series of videos based on Hardy's poems about love, including one referring to Mary Jane. Howard said the poems tell the story of Hardy's intriguing love life from his youth right up until just before his death in 1928. Her Definition, the ninth film in the series Thomas Hardy 10 Lovers 50 Poems, reveals how Hardy felt about Mary Jane.

Giles, speaking in the film at Athelhampton House, says: "At last, a happy poem from Hardy's time in London. Hardy's really happy! There's a woman here and he's madly in love. He's dumped Eliza in favour of her younger sister. I think that's pretty outrageous!"

Owen Davies, estate manager at Athelhampton House, explains that the sonnet was written in 1866. Hardy is no longer with his fiancée Eliza, he is now with Mary Jane Nicholls, her younger sister.

"Hardy's been in London for four years and he's finally finding his way. He's older, he's more successful and he's settled in. It all seems to be going well. He goes to meet Mary Jane's family in Sussex and they get on famously."

Mark Chutter, chairman of the Thomas Hardy Society, says Her Definition is a poem about the making of a love poem and choosing the right words. Hardy describes Mary Jane as 'the sweetest image outside Paradise'.

Mark said: "It is very much about finding the words of a poem but also I think it is very self-referential. Actually, it is a poem within a poem, trying to find the words to describe love."

Giles adds: "That wonderful happy image really sums up, I think, Hardy's happy time with Mary Jane and the end of his unhappy time with Eliza. But, of course, that time with Mary Jane didn't last."

The series Thomas Hardy 10 Lovers 50 Poems can be viewed on YouTube. Howard said 15 films have been released so far and the rest will be released at a rate of one every two weeks.

He added: "The videos use local actors depicting different periods of Thomas Hardy’s love life as the poems are read and this is followed by discussions with a number of different authors and experts, mostly filmed at Athelhampton House."

There is also a book with the same title, Thomas Hardy 10 Lovers 50 Poems by Giles Keating, to accompany the series.

A further Thomas Hardy connection to Sussex was revealed by Howard's sister, Worthing author Wendy Greene, in her book What’s In A Name? The Streets of Worthing Villages Part One.

Writing about Tarring High Street, Wendy said: "When Parsonage Row (now the site of The Parsonage Restaurant) was threatened with demolition for road widening, the residents called upon famous and influential people (including Thomas Hardy) to write letters of protest. The road was saved and Rectory Road was built as a bypass around 1930."