It is said that Jane Austin didn’t want irate landowners and indignant occupiers of stately homes to think she was writing about their estates, farm workers and tenants, so the places in her books could be called composites. There are one or two places however, that were not connected with any one manorial family that could be mentioned.
Bath, S.E. England, UK
The Austen family moved to Bath on the retirement of Jane’s father, living at various addresses in the city including 4, Sydney Place (privately owned). Persuasion and Northanger Abbey both feature Bath quite strongly as well as Georgian Bath, the Assembly Rooms and the Royal Crescent – the famous walk where high society would promenade.
Lyme Regis, Dorset
During their stay in Bath the Austen family often spent holidays in Lyme Regis. It was probably an escape for Jane who seems to have disliked the insincerity of Bath. It was in Lyme Regis that Louisa Musgrove had a fall in the book Persuasion and you can still walk out along the Cobb (harbour) as Jane must have done when she was thinking about her novel.
Portsmouth, Hampshire, England’s South Coast.
Jane probably knew Portsmouth quite well. As England’s foremost naval port and a city in its own right, she would have visited it with her sailor brothers. Wandering the ancient streets of Old Portsmouth it is easy to imagine the impressionable young Jane soaking up the atmosphere of the port and the bustling quays.
Southampton, S.E. England
England’s second port and known today as Gateway to the World as it is here that all the major liners sail to Europe, USA and Latin American. Jane and her sister Cassandra went to school in Southampton until stricken with diphtheria. In the early 18th century they lived with their mother, their brother and his wife in Castle Square on the city wall. The area has been redeveloped but you can still see, and walk on, the City Walls.
Winchester, Hampshire, England
Winchester is where Jane Austen spent the last years of her life in rooms at 8, College Street. There is a plaque on the wall of the house to mark the spot from which it is a short walk through The Close to the Cathedral where she is buried – see brass plaque on cathedral floor.
Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire
Austen’s home is open daily from 11 a.m. t0 4 p.m. March 1st to November 30th and weekends December – March
Source:
Most of the information comes from my visiting the towns mentioned. Many of the facts were known to me from my reading of the books and knowledge of her life in southern England.
Mari Nicholson - Award Winning travel writer and historian, member of British Guild of Travel Writers.Travelwriters.co.uk, and Society of Women Writers and ...
