Alton, Hampshire
Today was a big-time Austen day.
The first of our stops, the market town of Alton, was a place in the history of at least four Austen family members.
Most relevant to us, Alton held an important role in Jane’s everyday life while she lived nearby at Chawton. She visited the town regularly to shop, post letters, do her banking and catch the stage coach to London on High Street. She was also a member of the Alton Book Society that held its Annual General Meeting here.
Alton was also the site of one of her brother Henry’s bank branches, Austen, Gray & Vincent, which was closed in 1811. Unfortunately, his banking business went bankrupt in 1816. Once his obligations were fulfilled from the failure, Henry did a complete about-face and entered the clergy.
Finally, Jane Austen’s mother, Cassandra, fell ill in 1808 while staying at an inn in Alton. It is highly likely that this would have been at the George. Like the Crown Inn, the George Inn was owned by her son/Jane’s brother, Edward Austen Knight.
After our guided tour of High Street, we all split up. I continued on to St. Lawrence Church where I waited with another of our group, Dinah from New Mexico, for the Sunday service to conclude so that we could enter the church. Unfortunately, the service went long and time ran out. We gave up on waiting, returned to High Street and soon reboarded the motor coach.
Chawton, Hampshire
From the tangential to the monumental: leaving Alton, we arrive in Austenland…or, as it is known locally, Chawton.
Chawton House
Chawton House was as familiar to Jane Austen as her own home as it was inherited by her brother from the childless Thomas and Catherine Knight. And it was her brother who provided Jane, her mother and her sister with a permanent residence on his estate, ending their nomadic homelessness after Rev. Austen’s death.
Before touring the house, we were split up into three separate rooms where we were served a marvelous lunch of a half-dozen different dishes followed by dessert.
Having put our hunger pangs to rest, we were escorted through the house. Highlights included actual William Morris designed wallpaper and one of the huge London maps, displayed on a large room screen, that was replicated for the Jane Austen movie costume exhibit I visited in Cincinnati last year.
A second home connection came up in the library, now used as a Centre for the Study of Early Women’s Writing. On one wall, a tapestry had been hung…but it was too small for the prepared space. We were told that the original tapestry was owned by the NY Metropolitan Museum and was currently on tour in an exhibition: “The Tudors…” I spoke up that said exhibit was in Cleveland at that moment and I had seen the tapestry of which they spoke.
Regarding Edward's Austen Knight's Coat of Arms (above): The green fields with the yellow diamonds running diagonally from top left to bottom right is the Knight family's crest. But Edward Austen Knight was not born of but adopted into the Knight family, so the red square that breaks the line of yellow diamonds indicates his "position" in regards to the family's blood line. Interesting...if a bit passive aggressive in its snootiness.
Our tour of the house (and gift shop) complete, we gathered for a group photo op before walking down to St. Nicholas Church on the Chawton estate.
St. Nicholas Church & Graveyard
Outside of the church are the graves of the two Cassandras: Mother Austen and Jane’s sister. Within the church, there are memorial plaques as well.
From the church, we were herded to the motor coach for the ride down to the Jane Austen house. However, I opted to hoof it as the rain had ceased and it felt a little more “Austen-y” to walk the walk she would have done herself so many times during her lifetime.
On my walk, I passed a football pitch reached by way of a small wooden bridge crossing one of those grass-bottomed streams like the one next to the church yard. (See above. Probably the same flow.) I found myself hypnotized by the crystal-clear (and likely ice-cold) water coursing over the long blades of grass, wiggling and dancing in the energetic flow. Then I was snapped back to reality by the approaching conversation of girl football players, whose game had concluding and were walking towards the bridge. I turned and continued on my way to the museum.
Jane Austen House Museum
We have reached our Mecca…our tour’s raison d’être…the Holy Grail of Janeites everywhere: Jane Austen’s cottage home in Chawton.
We were doubly-blessed in that the Museum, which closed to the public at 5 PM, was going to remain open just for us to explore at our leisure. Upon reaching the site, we were encouraged to visit the gift shop first–the reason why will follow–before gathering in a meeting room for a few words from museum staff. Then we were released upon the house, free to roam from room to room, exhibit to exhibit. There were docents available for our questions (The museum was “re-working” the gift shop overnight, requiring the packing up and unpacking of everything in the shop, so most if not all of the staff was on hand.)
On the second floor, there were two exhibits that particularly caught my attention.
One was a room devoted to Jane’s brothers and their stories. There was a lot of reading…but their stories were quite interesting.
The other, entitled The Making of Pride and Prejudice, follows the extraordinary journey of Pride and Prejudice from first inception to publication and on through some of its most important and influential editions and incarnations. Included was a video loop featuring, among other clips, Colin Firth’s infamous swim.
What follows are pictures taken throughout the house. The topaz crosses pictured were a gift to Jane and Cassandra from their brother, 2nd Lt. Charles Austen, who purchased them with some prize money he had won. Jane’s ring, after being passed down through the Austen family, was sold at auction in 2012 to American performer Kelly Clarkson. However, it was deemed a national treasure (like Judi Dench!) and the museum was given the opportunity to raise the matching funds. The campaign was successful and the ring now remains in the UK.
The Kitchen
The Drawing Room
The Family Jewels
And what would a trip be without at least one photo bomb!
Exhausted and emotionally wired by the events of today, we returned to the hotel. I opted to refuel on bar food and wine while continuing to work on the travel blog.
Dave In Austenland 