Jane Austen's Hampshire home and family

In High School I read and loved two of Jane Austen (1775-1817)’s most famous novels. But this was all fiction I assumed, and not Jane’s real life. Her father died suddenly in 1805 and left no property or income to his daughters. And since his wife and 2 daughters were not allowed to work, the women were left dependent on the support of family men. Luckily Jane's brother Edward had been adopted by his cousins, inheriting their estate called Chawton House Hamps and becoming financially secure himself.

Jane Austen lived and wrote in Chawton, Hampshire

built c1690 and later renovated

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By 1807 Edward moved the women into his 2-storey red brick home, providing happy, cosy & productive years of Jane Austen’s life. Each day included looking after Jane’s mother, writing at a small table, eating together, games with the nieces and nephews, piano playing, sharing long walks, going to church and sharing sewing with sister Cassandra in the evening.

 Dining parlour and fire. Jane's writing desk

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Much of what is known about Jane's domestic routine comes from the niece Caroline Austen who in later life recorded the daily routine at Chawton. But little was written about the house’s architectural history. So now, 63 years after I read the book in Literature, it is time to examine her treasured and final house in the charming Chawton village.

The house was originally built in C14th as a small farmhouse, with later additions and renovations made over the years. The house was a thatched, timber dwelling built on the site for use as a farmhouse and then a coaching inn. In 1769 it was bought by the Knight family, distant Austen cousins, and became part of their Chawton estate. The Knights didn’t have any children themselves, so they formally adopted Jane’s brother Edward as their heir.

There were many minor alterations made by Edward Knight for his family eg the blocking of the window from the drawing room to the street, and adding a new Gothic window, looking onto the garden. The garden was extended for privacy, but retained a view towards Chawton Park and the woods surrounding the House where the ladies exercised.

The Drawing Room

 

The current structure resulted from renovations, blending elements of medieval & Georgian architecture. The exterior featured stone and brick with a steeply pitched roof and a prominent chimney. The interior showed the era’s artistry: ornate fireplaces, wooden panelling, intricate plasterwork.

Chaise Lounge

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Kitchen, 

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In 1809, Edward offered his mum and sisters a small house on his Chawton estate. They moved that year, together with their friend Martha Lloyd, forming a cosy female household. Jane lived there for her last 8 years, but suffering from ill health in May 1817, she left for treatment in Winchester. She soon died and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Mrs Austen and Cassandra lived at the House for life. The house returned to the Chawton Estate with Cassandra’s death in 1845, and divided into 3 dwellings for estate workers, then as an estate office and a working men’s club.

In 1940 a local founded the Jane Austen Society to try to save the House. The Society attracted a patron, Mr TE Carpenter; he personally bought the House and bequeathed it to the nation as a permanent memorial to his son who’d been killed in action in WW2. Carpenter created the Jane Austen Memorial Trust to run the House as a Museum, and it was formally opened by the Duke of Wellington in July 1949. Jane Austen Society also built up the collections and funded the building renovations. In particular major roof repairs in 2021-2, via Historic England and the Historic Houses Foundation, keep the building watertight.

Since then, more parts of the House have been restored, the interior being restored to the time when the Austens lived there. Today Jane Austen’s House is a Grade I listed site, a certified Museum and an important literary site. It holds a major collection of Jane Austen’s treasures eg her loved jewellery, first editions of her books, personal letters, textiles, paintings and portraits of her friends and family, and the tiny table at which she wrote her famous novels. There’s also a beautiful cottage garden.

It was here her six novels of manners, ground-breaking at the time, critiqued the landed gentry of Regency England. Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, was her first full-length; Pride and Prejudice 1813, and two more novels published in her lifetime: Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published postdeath in July 1817. Most of the places Jane referenced in her novels were places she lived in, visited or was inspired by. Most of her letters were burned but from those that survived, she was not a boring writer. She had a sharp wit, and she wasn't afraid to use it, especially in private

Persuasion by Austen, 1817

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Visit the rooms where she lived and wrote; see her writing table, jewellery, letters and first editions of her novels. Explore the pretty cottage garden, play traditional garden games, enjoy Regency dress up and see bonnet designing!