*DORCHESTER* - William Barnes (1801-1886)

This sombre looking chap was a curate and rector in the Church before he started writing poetry in the latter part of his life, for which he became well known (mainly because most of it was in the old Dorset dialect).

His poems centred around the joys of country life and I imagine even in the 19th century, he was something of a relic from the past - further info on Wikipedia.

In fairness he must have made quite an impact on local life, as this statue came just 3 years after his death. It is made from bronze and the sculptor was Roscoe Mullins (a great photo of the unveiling on the 4th February, 1889 is below).

His best known work is Linden Lea which was set to music by Vaughan Williams and despite gushing with sentimentality, certainly stirs up feelings of England's green and pleasant land - you can listen to it with lyrics on Youtube here.

The inscription has some lines from one of his poems on it and this is a fine, if rather stoic, statue. Quite a lot of information about the sculptor can be found here.

Overall:- 7/10