The Bardic Seat of Dorchester
Caer Dur
The first competition, judged by Ash the 11th Bard of Bath, the Mayor of Dorchester, the Town Crier of Dorchester and the chair of the Thomas Hardy Society, was held on the 28th of March this year.
We are delighted to announce that the winner and first Bard of Caer Dur is 17 year old Lala Johnson.
Peter Roe was chosen as the town's Deputy Bard.
The Caer Dur Forums are now online please come and join us where you can find out more about the Bardic competition as well as the Caer Dur festival Caer Dur Forums
The idea of Chaired Bards is to promote the Bardic Tradition through talks and performances and set the theme for the competition the following year. The first of the revived bardic chairs was that of Caer Badon (Bath) which was revived in 1998. This was followed by others in Bristol, Glastonbury and Winchester.
Dorchester is considered to be an ideal place for such a cultural revival, as not only was it an important cultural and religious centre in pre-Roman and Roman times, with several henge monuments and temples, but it also has an important literary heritage in the poet William Barnes, the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, and the Powys Brothers, who all resided there and found the town and its environs such an inspiration.
The competition, which was announced in August 2008, was open to anyone regardless of religious or other affiliation and will welcome storytellers, poets, singers, actors, writers and academics.
The Competition will run again in a years time. It is free to enter and open to all but does require registration of interest by emailing us at the email at the bottom of this page. Please address emails to Adam or Chris.
heritage@caer-dur.co.uk
Caer Dur Website
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