Which fictional English county was the setting for Thomas Hardy's novels?

The story behind the answer

Wessex is correct because Thomas Hardy set most of his novels in this fictionalized version of southwest England, based on real counties like Dorset (his birthplace), Somerset, Wiltshire, Devon, and Hampshire. Towns such as Casterbridge (Dorchester) and Weatherbury (Puddletown) anchor works like The Mayor of Casterbridge, Far from the Madding Crowd, and Tess of the d’Urbervilles.

Hardy revived the old Anglo-Saxon name “Wessex” (land of the West Saxons), making it memorable: Wessex = the West. By contrast, Barsetshire is Anthony Trollope’s creation, Ambridge is the village from the radio drama The Archers, and Fulchester is a modern fictional locale. Hardy’s unified regional setting let him explore rural life, fate, and social change with a vivid, consistent sense of place.