Evensong with Jane Austen
Today was a very special day. My Jane Austen research has
finally come to an end. When I was researching my first book
I read all of her novels, her published letters, several of
the Gothic novels mentioned in Northanger Abbey and all sorts of
relevant history and literary criticism. Over the past few years
though, with the added pleasurable company of friends and husband,
I have also been following her pathway. I have been to Steventon
where she was born, Chawton where she spent many happy years and
even got entry into Chawton House which her brother inherited from
a rich man who adopted him. I went to Bath to visit her old haunts,
visited the Jane Austen Museum, the Assembly Rooms and even
drank the waters. (Ugh!) Last week I completed nearly half of
the Jane Austen walk in London too. (I would have done more
but my friend that day was wearing the wrong heels and couldnt walk
further in them!)
And today a very dear friend, who had accompanied me to Chawton three years ago, drove me to Winchester. A beautiful Hampshire city, glorious in warm summer sunshine, with the sweet smell of newly mown grass, and the gentle pace of a country town. We found Jane's old house, where she had lived for the last six weeks of her life, and her burial site in the cathedral, and commemorative plaque on the wall nearby. Upstairs in the cathedral there is a small museum, and a library too, where we found her burial record which incidently, due to human error at the time, records her burial two days before she died... And to finish off we went to Evensong in the Cathedral, held in the Quire stalls, just down from where she lies, so I am sure she was listening to my final farewell. A very elegant end to a very special journey.
But I have a question tonight - can any of the word cloud members make suggestions for my Victorian research, for my second book, in its practical aspects ?
I have done the Dickens walk in London, and visited the Dickens museum. I have visited the Florence Nightingale museum too - and love the fact that her being called 'the lady of the lamp' is a misnoma because it was thought that the true image of her was too unlady like! For those who dont know she should have been the lady of the hatchet - because when the doctors in the Crimea wouldnt allow her and her nurses access to the stores of bandages etc she got a hatchet and broke the cupboard open. Good on you Florence!
Can anyone tell me who else is worth looking at - I know Harriet Martineaus house can be visited (is it Yorkshire) and the Brontes at Haworth - but I am open to suggestions about Victorian novelists and significant reformers where some real personal history is available to see. Please help if you can - thank you.
And today a very dear friend, who had accompanied me to Chawton three years ago, drove me to Winchester. A beautiful Hampshire city, glorious in warm summer sunshine, with the sweet smell of newly mown grass, and the gentle pace of a country town. We found Jane's old house, where she had lived for the last six weeks of her life, and her burial site in the cathedral, and commemorative plaque on the wall nearby. Upstairs in the cathedral there is a small museum, and a library too, where we found her burial record which incidently, due to human error at the time, records her burial two days before she died... And to finish off we went to Evensong in the Cathedral, held in the Quire stalls, just down from where she lies, so I am sure she was listening to my final farewell. A very elegant end to a very special journey.
But I have a question tonight - can any of the word cloud members make suggestions for my Victorian research, for my second book, in its practical aspects ?
I have done the Dickens walk in London, and visited the Dickens museum. I have visited the Florence Nightingale museum too - and love the fact that her being called 'the lady of the lamp' is a misnoma because it was thought that the true image of her was too unlady like! For those who dont know she should have been the lady of the hatchet - because when the doctors in the Crimea wouldnt allow her and her nurses access to the stores of bandages etc she got a hatchet and broke the cupboard open. Good on you Florence!
Can anyone tell me who else is worth looking at - I know Harriet Martineaus house can be visited (is it Yorkshire) and the Brontes at Haworth - but I am open to suggestions about Victorian novelists and significant reformers where some real personal history is available to see. Please help if you can - thank you.
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http://www.walksoflondon.co.uk/36/the-graves-of-wilkie-coll.shtml
I have read most Brontes - but not The Professor or Wuthering Heights, which are gathering dust on my book shelf. I remember being quite intrigued though when I discovered that one of the reasons the family were unhealthy was their water supply came from directly under the graveyard... nice!
Someone else was kind enough to add to this blog - but the cloud has lost it again. Whoever you are, you mentioned Jane being away from home when she died. You are right she was ill and so her sister moved her to Winchester to be near her doctor. She died after only six weeks there.
You also said you were going to investigate Coleridge and asked if I had any info on him. Sorry I know absolutely nothing about him - so cant help but I hope others on the cloud can...
Thanks for your interest
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