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
Kate Ellis (author) Kate Ellis (author) Kate Ellis is a British author of crime fiction, best known for a series of detective novels, which blends history with mystery, featuring policeman Wesley Peterson. Ellis' first novel, "The Merchant's House", published in 1998, received positive reviews and was chosen as one of the ten best summer reads by "Woman's Weekly". She has since written 21 more novels in this series, many to critical acclaim. Ellis has also written five novels set in Yorkshire as part of the Joe Plantagenet series and an historical crime novel, "The Devil's Priest", which is set in 16th century Liverpool.