By Elizabeth Jewell
Co-regional coordinator Linda Darden introduced the presentation by JASNA member Pamela Hale of the trip she and her husband, Dutch Tubman, took in May and June of 2025. The trip commemorated both the anniversary of Jane’s birth 250 years ago, and also the 200th anniversary of the first successful railway company, the Stockton and Darlington, which initially moved coal to ships in northeastern England.
Pamela and Dutch flew from Raleigh to England, and then boarded a train, the overnight Cornish Riviera train, at the Paddington Station in London to head for Penzance. Pamela noted that Jane Austen would have traveled by walking, by riding, by carriage, by donkey cart, or by stagecoach—the name indicating that the coach traveled in stages. There were many different routes that converged on London. Steventon, where Jane lived for the first twenty-five years of her life, would have been on the Winchester line to Southampton (in the south). Steventon is forty-six miles west of London.
One of the fastest ways to travel was by Royal Mail Coach (owned by the postal service). These coaches were driven at top speed for twelve to fifteen miles, which took about two hours, after which the horses would be changed. They carried armed guards to protect the mail. Although the guards made them safe for travelers, accidents were common. Coaches turned over, sometimes resulting in serious injury or death.
Pamela noted that Jane appreciated being able to ride in relative luxury in London when she borrowed her brother’s barouche, an open carriage. Gigs, on the other hand, were sporty vehicles, usually with only two wheels, drawn by one horse, and with room for the driver and perhaps one passenger.
Jane also traveled in a donkey cart, and she recorded being caught in the rain in the open cart.
Jane and her family also traveled to seaside resorts; Pamela speculates that she may have visited Wales, as her family certainly did. Doing some research, Pamela discovered that Jane’s thirteenth great-grandmother was Mary Janet Glyndower, a daughter of a famous Welsh patriot and prince. He was the last Welshman to have the title of Prince of Wales (now held by the eldest son of the king or queen of England).
Pamela also noted that there was travel by canal in Jane’s time; this was a slow method of travel and didn’t always go where one wanted to go, but it was generally quite safe. One such canal went from Bath to Redding; another went to Canterbury. And the Itchen Navigation Canal connected Winchester to Southampton and the Atlantic Ocean.
Although the trains weren’t available during Jane’s lifetime, her surviving siblings and her nieces and nephews were very likely to have used the trains. For modern travelers, Pamela recommends first-class tickets on the train, as that section is less crowded, as well as offering really terrific crumpets.
When Jane’s family went to Bath in 1801, they took lodgings across from the Sydney Gardens, which offered public breakfasts, concerts, fireworks, and a maze, which could be overlooked by one of Merlin’s swings, a swinging platform on which two people stood.
Pamela and Dutch stayed at the Swan, an inn in Compton, near Steventon. It has operated since 1777, so it would have been known to Jane.
Steventon is seven miles southwest of the post town of Basingstoke, where Jane would go to collect the mail at the Wheat Sheep Hotel. A Basingstoke cabinetmaker made a portable writing desk (or slope), given to Jane by her father for her nineteenth birthday. She later described it as containing all her worldly wealth. (Please see the portable desk and her writing table here: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-46-no-1/butler-1/)
After several detours and following a horse in their taxi, Pamela and Dutch visited Steventon and stopped at St. Nicholas Church, which the Austen family attended, and where both Jane’s father and her brothers James and Henry served as rectors. One of Jane’s prayers was on display.
Pamela and Dutch visited Oxford, where Jane and Cassandra briefly attended school, and where Jane’s father attended St. John’s College. In Oxford he met Jane’s mother, Cassandra; her father was the rector of All Souls College.
Jane and Cassandra also attended the Abbey House School in Redding; Pamela and Dutch saw the Reading Abbey Gateway, one of the buildings of that school.
Pamela and Dutch then went to Bath, where Jane and her family moved. They visited St. Swithin’s Church, where Jane’s parents were married in 1764, and where her father and her favorite novelist, Fanny Burney, are both buried. Bath is also where the Bath chair, a sedan chair, was invented in 1790. The chairs were carried by men or pulled by horses, but were quite small, holding one person.
After the death of Jane’s father, the family moved into a townhouse at 40 Gay Street; this is now the Jane Austen Center, a museum, gift shop, and tea room. Nearby is where Mary Shelley completed the writing of Frankenstein, which she began in Switzerland.
Next Pamela and Dutch visited Chawton Cottage, where Jane lived from 1809 to 1817 (before spending her final weeks in Winchester before her death in 1817). Here was the home in which she was most productive, writing Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion while living there. They toured the house, noting recreated wallpaper, a wax model of a pie in the kitchen, Jane’s writing desk, and a picture of sailing ship that had been captured. There was a mahogany bookcase and a piano—Jane played the piano (not the one displayed) every morning.
They toured the gardens and visited a tea room, Cassandra’s Cup, across from Chawton Cottage. They also visited another St. Nicholas Church, the one where Cassandra and her mother are buried. They then traveled to Winchester to visit the cathedral where Jane is buried. The notice there talks about her brilliant mind but not that she was an author. Pamela remembers the Kipling poem about Austen: “Jane lies in Winchester. Blessed be her shade. Praise the Lord for making her, and her for all she made.”
After sailing back to the United States on the Queen Mary, Pamela visited the Morgan Library in New York City, where she saw an exhibition honoring Jane’s 250th birthday.
In the discussion after the presentation, various members recommended visiting Darwin’s house and the Brontes’ house (as well as all sites related to Austen) if possible.
Jane Austen the Influencer Virtual Conference Debrief
Linda Darden also reviewed the virtual conference held in March; it was highly successful. About 135 people were online, and about 250 people have viewed the recording of it since. Enough donations were received to offset the cost of the conference, so the JASNA-NC reserves were not dipped into at all. Additionally, our chapter has been approached by the national JASNA board members, commenting that the speakers gave AGM-level talks and asking if the talks could be used by the national organization for education of JASNA members nationally.
Karin Wiberg asked three questions about the virtual conference: 1) What lingered with you? 2) What would you like to see tried, changed, or expanded on next time? 3) What else would you want the planning team to know?
Among the suggestions put forward, Karin mentioned the idea of focusing on a theme or book (similar to the AGM approach); another idea was that something more interactive be done. Sara Tavela noted that our region will be featured in the JASNA Summer News issue because of the conference.
Up Next
Linda noted that our next meeting, on May 17, is our virtual book club, centered on Devoney Looser’s new book, Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane. May is also the beginning of the ten-part series, The Other Bennet Sister, on PBS.