What is the setting of Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy?

The novel is set in the 1800's in the fictionalize area of Wessex in England. The author has created his world from an ancient kingdom of Wessex in English history. The author takes many known cities and towns in eastern England and changes their names to create a world that is a thinly veiled copy of the England that existed at the time the novel was written.