Jane Austen in Southampton

Having visited Jane Austen's house in Chawton and followed her footsteps around Bath, as I was in Southampton to catch a matinee at the Mayflower, I decided it was time to add Southampton to my Austen travels.

Austen lived in Southampton from 1806 to 1809 (between Bath and Chawton) following the death of her father. She moved there with her mother, sister Cassandra and their friend Martha Lloyd, joining her brother Frank and his wife Mary, who were already living in the city.

The family lived in a house in Castle Square, although, as with rather a lot of Austen's Southampton, the original building has long since disappeared. There is, however, a sign on the modern block of flats on Cement Terrace marking where the house once stood.

It is a much less grand Austen landmark than some of the places I've visited, but I was still pleased to find it. After all, this was where Jane Austen actually lived for three years.

The house was close to Southampton's medieval castle and town walls. The castle itself has also largely disappeared, but some of the remains can still be seen around Castle Square and the surrounding streets.

Austen apparently liked the garden at Castle Square, which had views across Southampton Water towards the New Forest. There isn't quite the same view to enjoy today. The modern waterfront is rather than the landscape Austen would have seen.

does make you realise just how much Southampton has changed. The medieval castle remains are still there, but they are surrounded by a very different city from the one Austen knew. The Bargate, however, has survived, rather marooned in the middle of the modern shopping streets, and is probably the most obvious reminder of the medieval city Austen would have known.

There are other Austen connections around Southampton too, including her association with the city's social life and her brother Frank's naval career. Southampton was also where Jane's friend Martha Lloyd later married Frank's fellow naval officer George Austen Knight.

My Southampton Austen visit was therefore a rather different experience from Chawton or Bath. There isn't a house full of furniture and manuscripts, or a whole Georgian street that looks much as it did in Austen's day. Instead, you have to pick out the smaller traces: a sign on a block of flats, some medieval walls and the remains of a castle.

But after Bath and Chawton, it seemed worth adding another piece to the Austen map.