Chawton the Home of Jane Austen
=How to get there.=–Train from Waterloo. L. and S.W. Railway.
=Nearest Station.=–Alton (1 mile from Chawton).
=Distance from London.=–46-1/2 miles.
=Average Time.=–Varies between 1-3/4 to 2 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 7s. 9d. 5s. 0d. 3s. 10-1/2d.
Return 13s. 6d. 8s. 8d. 7s. 9d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–At Alton–"Swan Hotel,” “Crown
Hotel,” etc.
Situated about a mile from Alton Station, on the main line of the
South-Western Railway, is the little village of Chawton, the residence
of Jane Austen at the time when she was producing her best literary
work. A walk along the main Winchester road brings one to the charming
old-world place, and, keeping on past the thatched cottages of the
village, one reaches a small brick house on the right-hand side, near a
pond, just before the road divides for Winchester and Gosport. This
building, which is now tenanted by a workman’s club, was Chawton
Cottage, where Jane Austen spent some of the brightest days of her life,
and wrote her most successful novels, books which are more highly
appreciated at the present day than they were during the lifetime of the
authoress.
Her father was rector of Steventon, another Hampshire village, at which
place his daughter was born in 1775, and where her early days were
spent. Jane Austen’s novels are remarkable for the truthfulness and
charm with which they reproduce the everyday life of the upper middle
classes in England in her time, and for delicate and yet distinct
insight into every variety of the human character. Miss Austen’s first
four novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield
Park, and Emma, were published anonymously.
A short distance along the Gosport road is Chawton Park, a remarkably
fine Elizabethan mansion, occupied in Miss Austen’s time by Edward
Knight, the lord of the manor. This country seat, which is not
accessible to visitors, was most probably the original of Mansfield
Park, and in the little church close by are several monuments to the
Knight family. Miss Austen died at Winchester on July 24, 1817, and is
buried in the cathedral. The brass to her memory is in the north aisle.
Within easy walking distance is Gilbert White’s home at Selborne, which
is treated under a separate heading (p. 70).
[Illustration: JANE AUSTEN’S COTTAGE AT CHAWTON.
Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbeywere revised and partly rewritten here; and Emma, Mansfield Park,
and Persuasion were entirely produced at the cottage.]
Continue...
Preface •
Ham House and Petersham •
Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle) •
Harrow •
Holwood House, Keston •
Chigwell, Essex •
Waltham Abbey and Cross •
Downe •
Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts •
Epping Forest •
Hampton Court •
Rye House, Broxbourne •
Hatfield House, Herts •
Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta •
The Oldest Brass in England •
St. Albans •
Stoke Poges Church, Bucks •
Windsor •
Jordans and William Penn •
Knole House and Sevenoaks •
Greenstead Church •
Chalfont St. Giles •
Westerham •
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Gad’s Hill •
Ightham Mote, Kent •
Penshurst •
St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion •
Rochester Cathedral •
Tunbridge Wells •
The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey •
Eversley •
Farnham, Surrey •
Hindhead, Surrey •
Shottermill •
Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex •
Chawton the Home of Jane Austen •
Selborne •
Elstow •
Lewes, Sussex •
Bodiam Castle, Sussex •
Colchester, Essex •
Layer Marney •
Battle Abbey •
Cambridge •
Arundel Castle •
Olney, Bucks •
Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great •
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Reculvers •
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Midhurst •
Pevensey Castle •
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Corfe Castle •
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Walsingham, Norfolk •
Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset •
Newstead Abbey •
The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances •
Tintern Abbey •
Chesterfield, Derbyshire •
Dukeries •
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The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor •
Raglan Castle •
Dovedale •
Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire •
Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop •
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Shrewsbury •
Buxton and the Peak District •
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Chester •
Exmoor •
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Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset •
Cleeve Abbey, Somerset •
Hawarden •
York Minster •
Coxwold, Yorkshire •
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Conway Castle •
The Doone Valley, Exmoor •
Llandovery, South Wales •
Dartmouth, Devon •
Richmond, Yorkshire •
Tintagel •
Whitby •
Carnarvon Castle •
Plymouth •
Durham and Its Cathedral •
Raby Castle, Durham •
Snowdon •
Harlech Castle •
Grasmere and Rydal Mount •
The Lake District •
St. Davids Cathedral •
Furness Abbey, Lancashire •
Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow •
The Isle of Man •
Brantwood •
Fowey •
Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall •
The Lake District •
Keswick •
Alnwick Castle •
Lanercost Priory, Cumberland •
Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.] •
St. Ives, Cornwall •
Bamborough Castle, Northumberland
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