John Cowper Powys's novel "Maiden Castle" (1936) is set in Dorchester and Powys intended it to be "a Rival of the "Mayor of Casterbridge". Powys had lived in Dorchester as a child, between May 1880 and Christmas 1885, when his father was a curate there. Then, after returning from America in June 1934, he had lived at 38 High East Street, Dorchester, from October 1934 until July 1935, when he moved to Wales. The building is commemorated with a plaque erected by the Dorchester Heritage Committee, but giving the date of his residence as 1936.