Chawton

Home of Jane Austen for the last eight years of her life, Chawton is a delightful village near Alton in Hampshire. You can visit Jane Austen's House, where she wrote or revised all her novels, and see the Chawton House Library where Jane's brother, Edward Knight lived.

At Chawton, which is today naturally regarded as Jane's literary home, Jane revised both Sense & Sensibility which was published in 1811 (and made Jane £140), and Pride & Prejudice, which was published in 1813. This was an instant success. Mansfield Park was published in 1814 and Emma in 1815. Persuasion was completed in 1816 but was not published until 1818, after Jane's death in 1817. Northanger Abbey was also published in 1818.

Jane and Cassandra normally went for a walk every day and used to go shopping in Alton, where their brother Henry, who was a London banker, had a branch bank. This was at 10 High Street, where the family post was delivered and collected.

There is a self-guided circular walk through the countryside that Jane loved, and a walking trail to nearby Alton.

A short walk from Jane's home is St Nicholas's Church where Jane's mother and her sister are buried. The present church was rebuilt in 1872 following a fire which destroyed the church that Jane would have known.