Jane Austen in Chawton

"There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort", this was not said about Jane's time in Bath, but is cited in reference to her life at Chawton Cottage, where Jane Austen lived with her mother and sister. It encapsulates the simple pleasures and domestic comforts she enjoyed there. 

After leaving Bath in July 1806 (which you can read more about here), Jane Austen, her mother, and sister moved to Clifton, near Bristol, for a short time. However, they did not settle there permanently. Later that same year, they moved to Southampton, where they lived with Jane’s brother Frank Austen and his new wife in a house on Castle Square. They remained in Southampton until 1809.

In 1809, thanks to her brother Edward Austen Knight, who had inherited wealth and estates, Jane, her mother, and her sister moved to Chawton Cottage in Hampshire.

This became Jane’s final and most productive home, where she revised or completed all six of her major novels. The cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, where Jane Austen lived from 1809 until 1817, is now home to the Jane Austen's House museum.

Chawton Cottage, now the Jane Austen's House museum

It is the only house where Austen lived that is open to the public today, offering a deeply personal glimpse into her daily life, creative process, and the surroundings that inspired her most famous works. It was there where she revised or completed all six of her major novels.

View from Jane's writing room

Nearby, Edward lived at Chawton House, which is now open to the public and houses a specialist library with over 4,500 rare and early editions of works by women writers from 1660 to 1860.

Chawton House

Jane's mother, Cassandra Austen, and her sister, Cassandra, are buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas' Church in Chawton, where their simple headstones mark their final resting place.

The headstones for Jane's mother, Cassandra Austen, and her sister, Cassandra

Jane Austen herself is buried at Winchester Cathedral, but a statue of her stands by the church in Chawton as a tribute. It is a smaller version of the full-size bronze statue by Adam Roud in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Commissioned by the Hampshire Cultural Trust, the life-sized statue depicts Austen walking through Market Square, holding a pile of books, representing her connection to the town where she lived and worked.