The Old Manor House sits a half-a-mile away from Kingston Maurward House, on the same estate. The grounds and lands around both buildings afforded Thomas Hardy plenty of scenic material for his fictional backdrops, such as the old fingerpost in the Eweleaze. The much newer, more elegant Portland-stone-surfaced Kingston Maurward House (called "Knapwater House" in Hardy's works) is now the Dorset College of Agriculture. The Elizabethan Manor House, was built between 1717 and 1720, is situated at the eastern end of the estate. Thomas Hardy lived in the nearby village of Lower Bockhampton. There are short walks from the estate, along the banks of the River Piddle, to lower Bockhampton to the east, and west to the nearby Stinsford Church. Here there is a memorial to Thomas Hardy in the churchyard.

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