Jane Austen Tour: Chawton and Winchester (May 5)

This past weekend was a long weekend in the UK, so my friend Nicole and I embarked on a Jane Austen tour of England. Stops included: Chawton Cottage, where Austen spent the last eight years of her life and where she wrote or revised all of her novels; Winchester Cathedral, where she is buried; and Lyme Regis, where a significant part of her novel Persuasion takes place. We'd both already been to Bath (another important stop) so we skipped that, which was for the best because the itinerary was already full.

First stop, Jane Austen's House at Chawton Cottage. Austen moved here in 1809 and lived here until she died in 1817. Despite being called a cottage, it's more like a solid red brick house.

View from the front:


Austen's house from the side:


Though it is called a house and museum, the "musuem" part is a little suspect. It was more like a simulacrum of a museum, in which objects that were marginally or potentially related to Austen were displayed. You can see, for example, copies of Austen's letters mounted on the wall, a tea set that the family would have used in the time period, a dining table that was in the Chawton Great House that was never in the cottage while Austen lived there, a faded lock of her father's hair, a copy of a contemporary watercolour of Austen's childhood home Steventon, and, for a few months only, costumes worn by the actors in that other piece of Austen simulacrum, Becoming Jane.

I knew that no educational value would be gleaned by going to the house. The trip was indeed a pilgrimage more than anything else. Because house itself was converted to flats in the 19th century before being bought after WWII and restored, it's difficult to know how close the building resembles its early 19th century incarnation. Nonetheless, it was still meaningful to walk through the same physical space that Austen did. To think: I have occupied the same coordinates in space as Jane Austen, time (200 years) notwithstanding.

From Chawton we cabbed it back to Alton and took a bus to Winchester (yes, logistics were tough on this trip) to see where Austen is buried. Winchester is a very pretty town and we caught a bit of the local market, which included loud flowersellers and really fresh strawberries, while there (roses were reduced from £5 to £4! That's 20% off!). After a short coffee break, we headed to Winchester Cathedral:


And saw Jane Austen's final resting place:


For those who care, here's what it says:

In Memory of
JANE AUSTEN,
youngest daughter of the late
Rev. GEORGE AUSTEN,
formerly rector of Steventon in this county.
She departed this Life on the 18th of July 1817,
aged 41, after a long illness supported with
the patience and the hopes of a Christian.

The benevolence of her heart,
the sweetness of her temper
and the extraordinary endowments of her mind
obtained the regard of all who knew her, and
the warmest love of her intimate connections.

Their grief is in proportion to their affection
they know their loss to be irreparable,
but in their deepest afflication they are consoled
by a firm but humble hope that her charity,
devotion, faith and purity have rendered
her soul acceptable in the sight of her
REDEEMER.

We quietly sat there for a few minutes, but time was of the essence so we didn't stay long. We made it to the train station with mere minutes to spare (and after buying tickets, pretty much seconds to spare) and took the train to Lyme Regis, which will definitely be another post. More photos of Chawton and Winchester here, and Nicole's insightful report (she is a journalist, after all) is here.