Jane Austen's 'Great House'
Jane referred to my childhood home as the 'Great House'.
I know how lucky I am to have grown up at Chawton House, in the heart of my fifth great aunt Jane Austen’s literary legacy.
Chawton Great House, as Jane called it, was owned by her brother Edward (my fourth great grandfather). In 1809, Edward gifted his mother and sisters a cottage in Chawton village, just a few hundred metres away. Jane was 33 years old and, as yet, an unpublished author. All that would change once she moved to Chawton.
Here’s a bit more about Jane’s move to Chawton and her love of Chawton ‘Great House’, as she called it.
Chawton House was inherited by Edward Austen, my fourth great grandfather (pictured below), after he was chosen as heir by wealthy but childless fourth cousin, Thomas Knight II.
Edward also inherited from the Knights two other country estates (Jane's childhood home of Steventon and Godmersham Park in Kent), further land and property in Hampshire, Sussex and Essex, and May’s Buildings built by Thomas Knight I in St Martin’s Lane in London.
Jane had lived with her mother and sister, Cassandra, in Southampton on the Hampshire coast with her brother Frank before Edward offered the Austen ladies the choice of their own home on either his Godmersham or Chawton estate. The ladies chose to stay in Hampshire.
‘Everybody,’ Jane wrote from Southampton, ‘is acquainted with Chawton, and speaks of it as a remarkably pretty village, and everyone knows the house we describe.’
On 7 July 1809, the Austen ladies along with their close friend, Martha Lloyd, moved into the newly renovated bailiff’s house, Chawton Cottage, situated in the middle of the village.
The village of Chawton is indeed remarkably pretty, with the Great House on a hill at the southern end of the village.
In this picture, taken by my good friend Julia Grantham, you can see the stables on the lefthand side, St Nicholas church on the right and Chawton House at the top of the long gravel drive.
As a child I loved walking the grounds. With limited finances, my family were no longer able to keep a gardener. My father and uncle kept the sweeping lawns well mowed, but other parts of the garden were overgrown. This photo was taken in 1987 from the terrace at the top of the gardens, when we still lived at the house:
As we walked through the woods, it was easy to see the traces of the once manicured gardens: paths, long unkempt and overgrown; life-size stone statues of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; and ornamental plaques, depicting coats of arms and foreign travels, set into the brickwork of the walled garden.
My fifth great-aunt, Jane Austen, walked these paths many times. Jane was a frequent visitor to the Great House and mentioned it in many of her letters.
‘I went up to the Gt. House between three and four, and dawdled away an hour very comfortably,’ Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra on 13 June 1814.
Jane arrived in Chawton an unpublished author and by the time of her death eight years later had published four novels, to high acclaim. Jane’s access to the inner workings of Edward's country estate, manor house and library assisted her writing.
Chawton House was built in 1585 and 400 years later, in 1987, my family gave up Chawton House as our family home. I was 18 years old.
Chawton House is now open to the public and runs a rich program of events. You can walk the same halls as Jane, sit at the same dining table, stroll the ‘Jane Austen Walk’ through the gardens and imagine her sitting writing in the alcove in the Oak Room, above the front door.
I know I am biased. Chawton House is my childhood home, my ancestral home, and my heart will always be in Chawton, but I confidently declare that Chawton ‘Great House’ is a magical place and should be on every Jane Austen lovers bucket list!
What a beautiful home! I can only imagine the memories you had.
Have a great day!
A really interesting post. I have just searched for Mays Buildings in St Martins Lane. There is a lot of information. Happy Christmas to you and your family, Tony