Wessex in classical heraldry and is found on a number of church windows in derived shields such as the Arms of the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster (Westminster Abbey, which was founded by the king). At its greatest extent Wessex encompassed the modern areas of Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset and Wiltshire, as well as the western half of Berkshire and the eastern hilly flank of Somerset. This covers an area of about . The English author Thomas Hardy used a fictionalised Wessex as a setting for many of his novels, adopting his friend William Barnes' term "Wessex" for
Walter Harris (author) Walter Harris (author) Walter Harris (born 1925) is a British author and broadcaster. He is the author of ten published novels, several volumes of poetry, numerous articles and spoken word recordings. Recordings of his interviews and broadcasts are held at the BBC Sound Archive and the British Library. Harris joined the RAF directly from Haileybury in 1943. In Cairo he was German interpreter to Africa Korps POWs and playwright in RAF Repertory Company and news reader on the Forces Network. Post War, Harris emigrated to Brazil and wrote for two English-language newspapers until being sponsored by a major Canadian-owned public