Southampton: Jane Austen's Forgotten Home

| Jane Austen danced here! |

England 2015 Trip Journal
Monday, April 13

     We decided to enjoy some of Alresford before our trip was over, and we had more gorgeous weather, so we took a stroll down Broad Street and West Street. There was a charity shop literally a few houses down from our flat, and although it was rather smaller than the average charity shop I managed to find quite a treasure: a mug with 'Her Ladyship' on it! Having been given my title last year, it seemed like the perfect souvenir to buy myself. I'm rather excited to show it to the friends who so kindly bestowed my title on me. :) And it was only £2.50! For a second breakfast we popped into Heidi's Swiss Patisserie for tea and pastry – well, I got a jelly doughnut, to be absolutely precise. It was a cozy, clean place that seemed to be a favorite with the locals for sandwiches and coffee.

Looking down West Street in Alresford.

     We visited Southampton at last! We drove to Netley Abbey first, and parked in the Abbey Hall parking lot at the corner of Grange Rd. and Victoria Rd. right next to the recreation field (and it's free!). It was only a five minute walk from there up to the Abbey on Victoria Rd. There is a parking lot on the Abbey grounds which is also free, but it's quite small.

     It was truly exciting to know that we were actually standing where Jane Austen and her nephews had stood 108 years ago. When her 11- and 8-year old nephews Edward and George, her brother Edward's sons, came to stay with Jane and her mother in Southampton after their mother died, Jane was determined to look after them and cheer them if she could, so she devised a visit to the nearby Netley Abbey. For a day out from Southampton they crossed the River Itchen in the Itchen ferry, and then rowed themselves down the river to the Abbey.

     It is a ruin now and it was a ruin then. It's also still free to visit! It remains quite a perfect ruin, with ivy growing up the walls and great open church windows with sunlight streaming through. This is both a medieval and a Tudor ruin because Henry VIII gave it to a nobleman after dissolving the monasteries in 1536. He altered the grey stone of the Abbey with lots of the iconic Tudor red brick, some of which still remains.

The romantic arches of Netley Abbey – just the setting for a Gothic romance...

A large section of the Tudor brick.

  

     In the space that was once the chapel there are some carvings on the base of what was once a pillar commemorating King Henry III! (He was patron of the monastery during his reign from 1216-72.) There were hundreds of carvings all over every wall – mostly graffiti – but even graffiti gains importance after two hundred years (the "1811" I noticed scratched into the Chapter House was particularly exciting to me).

Graffiti is no new thing...

The iconic gothic chapel ruins.

  

  

A crown for King Henry III carved into the pillar base.

The only bit of Netley with a roof: the Chapter House.

     The Abbey is set in a beautiful spot, and I love to imagine Jane Austen and her nephews sitting under the great tree, walking about on the glowing green grass, and perhaps playing a game of hide and seek among the ruins. During our visit I observed that school must still be out because there was a group of boys being boys, running about and climbing up the Abbey – just like young Edward and George might have done. :)

There is even ivy growing in a pointed gothic window... Could there be a more perfect ruin?

 

     For lunch we sat in the Cricket field adjacent to where we'd parked that looks out over Southampton Water. We greatly enjoyed our tuna sandwiches as we gazed over the sparkling sea, imagining Jane, Edward and George rowing along the shore to the Abbey.

 

 

     Only a 12-minute drive up the road from Netley Abbey is Southampton, where Jane Austen lived for nearly three years of her life, from 1806 to 1809. She didn't do any novel writing here, that we know of – which could explain why people don't connect her with Southampton – but we do know that she was happy. She had escaped the confinement of Bath city life, and moved into a comfortable house with her mother, sister, friend and brother's family located right on the ocean with it's own garden.

     The city center of Southampton is unusual, dotted everywhere with fragments of the old city walls, and the buildings almost run into the water – they practically did back in Jane's time when the water used to come all the way up to the city wall. It would have been a pleasant place for the Austen ladies, being so near the freedom of the sea after being land-locked in Bath for six years.

 

     We found the place where the Austens lived in Castle Square, and although the original building has been demolished, there is now a pub on the site titled The Juniper Berry. There is just enough room behind it for the garden Jane talks of with such excitement in her letters. From among their raspberries and "lauburnam gold" they could have looked out over the ocean because the garden backed up right to the wall.

The Juniper Berry pub, once home to the Austen ladies. 

Behind the Juniper Berry, where the Austens kept a garden. 

     

     We parked in the lot on Castle Way between Albion Place and the Westquay Shopping Centre. To find the Austens' old home, just follow Albion Place, which turns into Forest View and runs right into The Juniper Berry. It is only about two blocks from The Dolphin Hotel where Jane used to attend assemblies. Just take Castle Lane to Castle Way, which leads straight to The Dolphin on High Street. It's all very conveniently close together!

     We popped into The Dolphin simply to check out their tourist info resources – or so I thought... It turned out to be much more exciting: an undercover stealth mission! Mom quietly called me to follow her up some back stairs, which was completely bewildering until I saw the sign directing us to the Jane Austen Suite. Then I guessed what she was up to. We went through a few doors, glancing around to make sure we remained unseen, and found a largish meeting room set up for dinner and covered with sky blue striped wallpaper, which Mom had somehow discovered was part of the room Jane would have danced in! We grabbed a few photos and videos before making our way back as stealthily as we had come. We were quite pleased with ourselves, and giggled with glee as we walked away down the street.

Before our covert mission into The Dolphin Hotel...

We found it! The room where Jane Austen danced in Southampton. 

     We then walked through the old town, following the Castle Square road near the Juniper Berry (which changes into Bugle St.) past the Tudor House and Garden, and down to the old wall (built in the 1200s), where we found the West Gate, the place where the troops in King Henry V's army had passed to disembark for Agincourt, as well as the spot where the Pilgrims had set sail for America. 

     I had to get Mom's picture with the monument marking the spot to go with her picture taken at Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims first landed. The wall led us at last to the waterfront, so we walked along for a bit like Jane Austen and her family had done before they set out on a little sailing expedition. Jane also would have taken this route all the way to the Itchen Ferry that she and her nephews took to reach Netley Abbey.

The monument to the Pilgrims in Southampton.

The West Gate: Henry V's troops walked past this stone...

A bit of info about Jane Austen on the Southampton walls.

     For dinner we settled on The Standing Order next door to The Dolphin Hotel. It is a Wetherspoon pub, which means that the prices will be quite decent, and that we may encounter a 2-for-1 meal deal like we did in Stratford and Selby. What made this pub quite perfect was the discovery of Jane Austen's portrait hung over a table. So you can guess where we sat.

Sitting under Southampton's most famous unknown resident.

     Perhaps the most memorable thing about sitting under Jane's portrait is the fact that our server didn't know that it was a portrait of Jane Austen. Mom told her we were sitting at the table next to Jane Austen's picture, and apparently she did not recognize the location of which Mom was speaking... It just goes to show you that even the people who live here have forgotten its Jane Austen connection.

     Now, it pains me ever to speak ill of English food, as it already has an unjustly negative reputation, but this is a story too good to keep to ourselves. It is not even a critique of English food, really, as it involves a tostada. You see, we had gotten a little homesick for Mexican food, which can be found in its gloriously authentic form on nearly every block in California, so we decided to diverge from our beloved British dishes on the menu to indulge in a taste of home. Well, it was not too different from what we know, except for the bar-b-que sauce. That was rather an unusual twist.

     Then it was time to return home to our lovely flat for some tea!



© Anna Morton 2017