Of Woodbridge and Hedgely

Of Woodbridge and Hedgely is a satire on science denial set in the 1820’s countryside of Gloucester, England. The Industrial Revolution has begun to saturate country, but there are still quaint and naïve pockets like these binary towns whose inhabitants are resistant to change. Alas the enlightenment is indeed brought before them when a young bachelor and engineer, Thomas Winter – the son of a wealthy industrialist – moves into the area with the intention of applying science to their fields to produce higher crop yields. Further their local Anglican parson, Jonathan Moore, begins a series of science lectures dedicated to the memory of his recently departed brother, in which the subjects of deep time, uniformitarianism, plutonism, &c. are introduced alongside pre-Darwinian evolution. Such is taken rather poorly by the towns' Baptists, led by the preacher George Edwards and funded by the recently wealthy Henry Wyatt, who conspire against these scientific men, the latter motivated by romantic adversity.