Jane Austen at 250: Hampshire events to celebrate anniversary
2025-02-01
Category: entertainment

Literary lovers across the world are preparing to celebrate 250 years since the birth of one of England's most beloved authors.Jane Austen's novels - including Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility - are renowned for their wit, social observation and insights into the lives of early 19th Century women.She was born in Steventon, Hampshire, and spent much of her life in the county, so the places where Austen lived, and was inspired by, are staging special events to mark the anniversary.From seeing her writing desk to dancing at a Regency-themed ball or visiting the house where she died, here are the highlights of what 2025 has in store for Janeites.
Southampton
The NY Times placed Jane Austen's England as top of its list of 52 Places to visit in 2025, such is the worldwide appeal of the Hampshire author.But when thinking of notable Austen locations, Southampton may not immediately come to mind.However, the author attended boarding school in the town for a short time and celebrated her 18th birthday dancing at a ball at The Dolphin hotel.She later lived in a house in Castle Square - on the site of the current Juniper Berry pub.An exhibition at God's House Tower, In Training for a Heroine, tells the story of the young, ambitious Jane Austen at the beginning of her career.Its highlight is the travelling writing desk, gifted to her by her father, which had a secret drawer for her letters and manuscripts.
From March to October, the SeaCity Museum is staging A Very Respectable Company – an exhibition of rare paintings, letters, books and personal items, many on display to the public for the first time. It will focus on Austen's close circle of family and friends during her time in Southampton.A street theatre event - The Stinking Fish of Southampton - echoing a description used by Austen herself, is offering opportunity to meet wealthy merchants, army deserters, famous actors, and dashing naval officers at Southampton's Holyrood Church in June.A specially-produced walking trail takes in some of the Southampton landmarks that Austen would have seen during her time in what was then a fashionable spa town.
Chawton
The Jane Austen' House Museum is also preparing for a busy year ahead.In 1809, Austen's brother Edward offered his mother and sisters a cottage on his Chawton estate near Alton.This is where the author lived for the last eight years of her life and wrote her novels.The venue has already ticked off its Pride and Prejudice Festival in January but there are more coming up, themed around the novels Sense and Sensibility in May, Emma in July, Persuasion in September, as well as Jane Austen's Birthday Celebration Week in December.
Its Austenmania! exhibition looks back to 1995 – a year of film and TV adaptations that "changed the Austen landscape forever".On top of the 250th author's anniversary, it celebrates 30 years since the four film and TV adaptations were first seen in 1995, including the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which famously saw Colin Firth as Mr Darcy emerging from a lake, dripping wet, and setting a generation of Austen enthusiasts' hearts fluttering. Two original Pride and Prejudice transmission scripts from the Andrew Davies Archive and handwritten notes on the production will be on show.Although Austen famously wrote "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading", the museum staff also launched a new podcast taking fans "on a seasonal journey through Jane Austen's novels, the story of her life and the world she lived in". 
Winchester
In May 1817, Austen fell seriously ill and came to Winchester with her sister Cassandra for medical treatment.Two months later, she died aged and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.Today, partly because of TV and film adaptations, the city always attracts fans from across the world.The cathedral's website reads that it has the "enormous privilege" of being the author's final resting place.
Visitors can also look forward to a traditional Regency Ball in May and the planned unveiling of Jane Austen statue in the Cathedral Inner Close in October.Canon Roland Riem, vice-dean of Winchester Cathedral, said people still had "such a strong affiliation" with Jane Austen two-and-a-half centuries after her birth."I think her characters are so subtle and carry so much moral weight, they're always making decisions."And there's this wonderful subtext underneath their actual words that you can feel as she's writing what they're trying to say."
Austen lodged at No 8 College Street in Winchester during her treatment.The author described her "very comfortable" accommodation and composed her last poem there, just three days before her death. Cassandra watched her sister's funeral procession from the windows.The rooms are due to be open to the public for the first time on Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout June, July and August.
As Jane Austen also said: "Ah! There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort".So perhaps it is the perfect place to begin her 250th anniversary year, watching the new BBC drama Miss Austen, based on the novelist's sister Cassandra. It begins on BBC One on Sunday.
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