Jane Austen'S House

This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 6 July 2017.

SU 73 NW 2/10

CHAWTON WINCHESTER ROAD Jane Austen's House

31.7.63

GV I Home of Jane Austen 1809 to 1817, now a museum. C18. Walls of Flemish bond, with cambered arches to the ground floor, plinth. Hipped tiled roof, brick dentil eaves, two flat-roofed dormers with sashes.

Southeast front: once symmetrical, of two storeys and attic; five above two wide windows; the central upper window is now blocked, and below it the former entrance is a window, the openings for wider windows to the ground-floor have been altered, the south side being bricked up as a panel, and the north side made narrower. Sashes in exposed frames. The doorway (north of the centre) has a moulded canopy on carved brackets and a six-panelled door. The long southwest elevation is similar, of three windows, the Flemish bond being mathematical tiles; at the east side is a Gothic sash. At the rear, the L-shaped block has three hipped roofs behind the front, one extended to a lower eaves above the staircase. There are two inscribed plaques at the front.

Interior: much remains of the C18 plain interior (floors, fireplaces, doors, cupboards), with period furnishings, other period features, and exhibition material, related to Jane Austen.

Jane Austen lived here with her sister, Cassandra, her mother and her friend Martha Lloyd from 1809. In May 1817 Austen moved to Winchester for treatment for a short illness from which she died on 18 July 1817. Her mother and sister continued to live at the house in Chawton for the rest of their lives. It was here that the author revised the previous drafts of her earlier works, including Pride and Prejudice, and wrote her later novels, including Emma.

Listing NGR: SU7083737583

This listing was enhanced in 2017 to mark the bicentenary of Jane Austen's death.