Maiden Castle (novel) Maiden Castle (novel) Maiden Castle by John Cowper Powys was first published in 1936 and is the last of Powys so-called Wessex novels, following "Wolf Solent" (1929), "A Glastonbury Romance" (1932), "Weymouth Sands" (1934). Powys was an admirer of Thomas Hardy, and these novels are set in Somerset and Dorset, part of Hardy's mythical Wessex. American scholar Richard Maxwell describes these four novels "as remarkably successful with the reading public of his time". "Maiden Castle" is set in Dorchester, Dorset Thomas Hardy's Casterbridge, and which Powys intended to be a "rival" to Hardy's "Mayor of Casterbridge". Glen Cavaliero describes Dorchester
Wessex Basin Kimmeridge oilfield is an offshore field that was first discovered in the 1950s is the largest in the area and is still in production to this day. Wytch Farm is the major onshore field that entered production during the 1970s. This basin stems from three major source rocks known as the Blue Lias formation with Liassic clays, the Oxford Clay formation, and the Kimmeridge clay formation. Wessex Basin The Wessex Basin is a petroliferous geological area located along the southern coast of England and stretches into the English Channel. The on land area the basin covers comes close to approximately