Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, UK. Today would have been her 250th birthday.
In July, I went to Jane’s birthplace of Steventon with my family to see where it all started. Steventon is a tiny village near the town of Basingstoke in the country of Hampshire. We stayed at a hotel near the town of Hook, which is a 45-minutes drive from Heathrow. From Hook, our drive to Steventon was around 30-minutes through narrow country roads.
Visiting the U.K. from the U.S. is always a charming experience. What appeared as a one way street to my American eyes turned out to be a two way street with incoming speeding sports cars! When we started our journey to Steventon, I was loving the landscape of misty green, narrow lanes with a canopy of trees, and just as I sighing, “a walk to Netherfield Park” the incoming speeding cars turned the imagery into Midsomer Murders! But every driver we passed was patient and friendly. They let us take our sweet time to realize that the tiny dirt space on the shoulder was meant for one car to pull over and allow incoming cars to pass by. So they were, in fact, one way streets but with two way traffic.
The blogs I had read online had said that Steventon is a small village and there was little to suggest that a legend was born and had lived there. Fortunately, that seems to have changed, and we spotted the sign for Steventon with a dedication to Jane Austen.
We drove through the country lanes and arrived at our destination, the Church of St. Nicholas. From what I understand, this was the parish church. Austen’s father, Rev. Austen, was the rector at the Steventon Rectory. The rectory and the Austen family home were demolished many years ago, and the land is now private property. The rectory and home were located at the start of the lane that eventually ends at St. Nicholas Church. I believe that Jane and her family frequently walked from her home to St. Nicholas church. If I had to guess, it would have taken me 30 to 40 minutes to walk that distance.
I was so pleasantly surprised to see that during this special year the church was recognizing the legend who lived in the village and prayed at the church at some point in history. We couldn’t go inside the church since it was closed. Across the street from the church was a beautiful manor house. They must have seen a lot of visitors this year.
Behind the church, I was able to find gravestones for James and Mary Austen. James was Jane’s oldest brother, who was the rector of the Steventon rectory after Rev. Austen retired.
Jane lived in Steventon until age 26. She moved to Bath along with Cassandra, her mother, and Rev. Austen after he retired.
As I left Steventon, my first feeling was immense joy at having seen Jane’s village that I had read about for decades. And then, it felt surreal that this non-descript village in the countryside of England has given us an author who has played such an enormous role in the lives of millions of people worldwide and continues to do so two and a half centuries later.