This Christmas at Jane Austen’s House
Jane Austen’s final home is now a museum with a collection that includes the author’s writing desk, personal letters, first editions, and items of jewellery.
Legions of Jane Austen fans routinely end up in Bath when exploring sites connected with the English author. But a cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, where she spent the last eight years of her life is not to be missed when on the Austen trail.
Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire, was the author’s final home. It was within these walls that she wrote and revised her six beloved novels. The Grade I listed building houses an accredited Museum and is one of the most important literary sites in the world.
The structure also has a story, one that begins around 500 years ago, when a thatched, timber dwelling was built for use as a farmhouse and then as a coaching inn. In 1769, the house was purchased by the Knight family, distant relatives of the Austens, and became part of their Chawton estate, occupied by the bailiff. The Knights did not have children of their own, and formally adopted Jane’s brother, Edward, as their heir. In 1809, Edward offered his mother and sisters the small house on his Chawton estate. They moved here in July 1809, with their friend Martha Lloyd.
Museum curator Sophie Reynolds says Austen lived in this house for the last eight years of her life, from July 1809 until May 1817, just a few weeks before her death.
“After eight years of housing uncertainty – living in lodgings in Bath and Southampton, and going on long visits to relatives and friends, it was here in Chawton that Jane finally had a settled home where she could focus on her writing,” she says.
The author moved into the house on July 7, 1809, along with her sister Cassandra and their mother, as well as their dear friend Martha Lloyd, who had also lived with them in Southampton. The stable and comfortable female household quickly delineated roles. “Mrs Austen threw her energies into working in the garden, while Cassandra and Martha took over the household management, leaving Jane time to write. She quickly took out her earlier draft novels, written in Steventon, and revised them for publication,” Reynolds says.
Austen began by rewriting her draft novel, Elinor and Marianne, and with help from her brother Henry she got it published under a new title, Sense & Sensibility, in October 1811. “She went on to rewrite First Impressions, which she published as Pride and Prejudice. She also redrafted Susan, although she decided not to publish it. After her death it was published as Northanger Abbey,” the curator says.
Between 1811 and 1817, Austen wrote three new novels: Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion, all of which were published from this house although Persuasion, like Northanger Abbey, was not published until after her death.
In spring 1817, Austen began working on a new novel, known as The Brothers, but did not live to complete it. It was later published as Sanditon.
“This house is crucial to the story of all these extraordinary works, and to Jane Austen’s life as a writer. To her, it was more than just a house – it was a place of refuge, security and inspiration, where she finally had the space and time in which to write,” Reynolds says.
Austen lived in the house until May 1817, when she was moved to Winchester to be near her physician as she was ill. She died in Winchester on July 18, 1817.
Mrs Austen and Cassandra continued to live at the House for the rest of their lives. After Cassandra’s death in 1845, the house returned to the Chawton Estate; it was divided into three dwellings for estate workers and was also used as an estate office and a working men’s club.
The museum was founded in 1949 by its benefactor, TE Carpenter, who personally acquired the house and endowed it to the nation as a permanent memorial to Austen and to his son who was killed in action in 1944. Carpenter set up the Jane Austen Memorial Trust to run the house as a Museum, and it was formally opened by the Duke of Wellington on July 23, 1949.
At the time of opening, the house was still occupied by tenants; only the front room was publicly accessible. Later, as the tenants left, more rooms were opened to visitors. The Jane Austen Society was instrumental in funding repairs and in building the museum’s collection, Reynolds says.
“Over the last 70 years many parts of the House have been restored and the interior has been restyled to take it back to the time when the Austens lived here. Today, we continue to undertake repairs and maintenance that will help to preserve the House for generations to come,” Reynolds says.
Jane Austen’s House today has an unparalleled collection of Austen treasures, including items of furniture, paintings and household objects. Visitors can discover personal letters and first editions of her novels, items of jewellery that she cherished, portraits of her friends and family, and the tiny writing table at which she wrote.
Visitors can explore the rooms where Austen lived and wrote, “from the sunny Drawing Room where she practised the piano every morning and where she read Pride and Prejudice aloud to a neighbour on the very day she received her first copy to the vibrant green dining room where she wrote, and the cosy bedroom upstairs that we believe she shared with her beloved sister Cassandra”.
The museum, which is visited by approximately 40,000 people each year, lets visitors step back in time to 1816 and follow in Austen’s footsteps as they explore the rooms where she lived and wrote. A series of temporary exhibitions explore Regency life and Austen’s works.
It is now run by the Jane Austen’s House Museum CIO, a registered charity that aims for “the advancement of education and in particular the study of English literature, especially the works of Jane Austen”.
This Christmas, visitors to Jane Austen’s House will enjoy a specially-created immersive audio installation, bringing the famous Christmas scenes from Emma to life. Moving from room to room, follow the story of Emma’s Christmas Eve dinner at Randalls and the fateful snowstorm that follows.
The audio installation, Christmas at Randalls, will feature Sally Scott as the matchmaking heroine Emma Woodhouse and Bertie Carvel as Mr Elton, the supremely confident clergyman who proposes to her on Christmas Eve. The cast also features Carlyss Peer as the narrator and Dominic Gerrard as Mr John Knightley. The Christmas experience will run from November 23 to January 7.
“The story will be told through a specially created audio installation that brings three key Christmas scenes from Emma to life, within the very rooms where the novel was written,” Reynolds says.
Sounds and scents from the story, from creaking carriages to roaring coal fires, will contribute to the immersive effect throughout the House. “Handcrafted decorations made from discarded copies of Emma will echo themes from the story, adding another layer to the experience and nodding to the eighteenth-century passion for paper crafting. A first edition of Emma will also be on display,” the curator reveals.
The museum will also be holding a range of festive events, including candle-lit house tours that offer an atmospheric tour by candle light, followed by mulled wine and mince pies in the kitchen.
Just a short walk from Jane Austen’s House is Chawton House, an Elizabethan manor house that once belonged to Edward. Referred to as the “Great House” in Jane Austen’s letters, it now offers the public access to the library, house, and gorgeous gardens. The library houses a unique collection of women’s writing, with numerous works that were completely neglected throughout the 20th century.
Not to be missed is the Jane Austen Garden Trail, a unique walking route around the Chawton grounds, which lets one follow in the author’s footsteps. Finish your day out with a stop at the tea rooms where you can enjoy a hot cup of tea or freshly roasted coffee and a baked treat after a bracing winter walk.
Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle.