• Home
  • Audio/Podcasts
  • Austensites
  • AV/E-Texts
  • History
  • JA Novels & Bio
  • Links
  • Original Sources/19th C. Texts
  • Social Customs During the Regency
  • Teacher/Student
  • Writer/Literature Resources

Jane Austen's World

This Jane Austen blog brings Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« James Gillray, Political Satirist
High perch phaetons and carriage dresses »

Steventon Rectory: Jane Austen’s Childhood home

June 2, 2007 by Vic

Below sits a photograph of all that remains of Steventon Rectory, which was razed in 1820 shortly after Jane’s death: A field with trees and a metal pump in an enclosure (you can view it at left of the photo). This pump replaced the wood pump from Jane’s time (see drawing).


The back of the Steventon Rectory, drawn by Jane’s niece, Anna Lefroy, gives few clues about the size of the house or what the front looked like. There seems to be a confusion as to how large the house actually was. (Why Was Jane Austen Sent away to School at Seven? An Empirical Look at a Vexing Question. by Linda Robinson Walker)

The lane that connected the rectory to Steventon Church resembled the rutted road in this photograph. These roads would get quite muddy during rainy weather.

Ladies often wore pattens over their delicate slippers to lift their feet off the mud. Metal pattens, like the one in this illustration, made a clicking noise on pavement. They would most likely sink in mud; and I imagine Jane and her sister, Cassandra, wore a device that more closely resembled a wooden clog to prevent the patten from sinking.
Regardless of how many precautions a lady took, a long walk through wet fields and muddy lanes resulted in dirty hems and shoes, as depicted by Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Bennett in 2005’s Pride and Prejudice.

In Chapter II of Memoirs of Jane Austen, J. Edward Austen-Leigh wrote about the demise of the patten, which had become a distant memory in 1871:

The other peculiarity was that, when the roads were
dirty, the sisters took long walks in pattens. This defence against wet
and dirt is now seldom seen. The few that remain are banished from good
society, and employed only in menial work; but a hundred and fifty years
ago they were celebrated in poetry, and considered so clever a
contrivance that Gay, in his ‘Trivia,’ ascribes the invention to a god
stimulated by his passion for a mortal damsel, and derives the name
‘Patten’ from ‘Patty.’

The patten now supports each frugal dame,
Which from the blue-eyed Patty takes the name.

But mortal damsels have long ago discarded the clumsy implement. First
it dropped its iron ring and became a clog; afterwards it was fined down
into the pliant galoshe–lighter to wear and more effectual to protect–a
no less manifest instance of gradual improvement than Cowper indicates
when he traces through eighty lines of poetry his ‘accomplished sofa’
back to the original three-legged stool.

As an illustration of the purposes which a patten was intended to serve,
I add the following epigram, written by Jane Austen’s uncle, Mr. Leigh
Perrot, on reading in a newspaper the marriage of Captain Foote to Miss
Patten:–

Through the rough paths of life, with a patten your guard,
May you safely and pleasantly jog;
May the knot never slip, nor the ring press too hard,
Nor the _Foot_ find the _Patten_ a clog.

Read more about Steventon here:

You can view more photographs of Steventon and the surrounding area here.

To read the excellent and detailed article about Steventon Rectory by Linda Robinson Walker, click here.

View an image of a wood patten in an article about Regency Footwear here.

Share with others:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Fashions, jane austen, Jane Austen's life, Jane Austen's World, Regency Life, Regency style, Regency walk | Tagged pattens, Steventon | 4 Comments

4 Responses

  1. on June 2, 2010 at 00:25 Steventon Rectory « Jane Austen in Vermont

    […] -Jane Austen’s World Blog on the Steventon Rectory […]


  2. on June 2, 2010 at 00:27 The Saga of the Steventon Parsonage « Jane Austen in Vermont

    […] -Jane Austen’s World Blog on the Steventon Rectory […]


  3. on December 3, 2011 at 20:07 august

    ummm there is nothing on this page about her childhood i need info this page suks!


  4. on June 15, 2012 at 00:07 Wherein Tess of the d’Urbervilles meets Jane Austen. « kate larson textiles

    […] occasionally from her work to see her father’s flock grazing on the grounds of their home at Steventon Rectory. Photo by Christa […]



Comments are closed.

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 7,124 other subscribers
  • Items of Interest

  • Follow Jane Austen's World on WordPress.com
  • Blog Stats

    • 16,626,167 hits
  • RECOMMENDED BOOKS AND RESOURCES

  • Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is now available! By JAW contributor Brenda S. Cox. See Review. Available from Amazon and Jane Austen Books.
  • Praying with Jane: 31 Days through the Prayers of Jane Austen, Rachel Dodge, and a bookmark with the quote "A whole family assembling regulary for the purpose of prayer is fine!" Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
    We also recommend JAW contributor Rachel Dodge's devotionals based on Jane Austen's prayers and classic literature. Reviews:
    Praying With Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen;
    The Secret Garden Devotional;
    The Anne of Green Gables Devotional;
    The Little Women Devotional.
  • Book cover of Bath: An Adumbration in Rhyme by John Matthews
    Bath -An Adumbration in Rhyme. Edited by Ben Wiebracht. Read the review of the book at this link. Click to order the book on Amazon US or Amazon UK
  • In Sri Lanka lies the grave of Rear Admiral Charles Austen CB, Jane Austen’s Brother

    The neglected tombstone found in an overgrown burial ground.

    Rear Admiral Charles Austen CB

    Died off Prome, the 7th October 1852, while in command of the Naval Expedition on the river Irrawady against the Burmese Forces, aged 73 years.”

    The grave after restoration

    Read the full article in The Sunday Times. June 27, 2021.

  • The Obituary of Charlotte Collins by Andrew Capes

    Click on image to read the story.

  • Comments

    “My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion

     

    Gentle readers: Please feel free to post your comments and continue the conversation! Due to SPAM, we will no longer accept comments on posts after 30 days of publication. In some instances, links will be removed from comments as well.

  • Administrators and Contributors

    Vic Sanborn, founder of this blog, is supported by a team of talented and knowledgeable writers about Jane Austen and the Regency era. They are:

    • Brenda Cox
    • Rachel Dodge and
    • Tony Grant, who now contributes his photos from London and England

    Click on their names to enter their own blogs.

    In addition, we thank the many experts and authors who frequently contribute their posts and opinions, and who continue to do so freely or at our request.

  • Pin It!

    Follow Me on Pinterest
  • Top Posts

    • Winter, Regency Style
      Winter, Regency Style
    • Men's hair styles at the turn of the 19th century
      Men's hair styles at the turn of the 19th century
    • Highclere Castle Floor Plan: The Real Downton Abbey
      Highclere Castle Floor Plan: The Real Downton Abbey
    • Regency Fashion: Men's Breeches, Pantaloons, and Trousers
      Regency Fashion: Men's Breeches, Pantaloons, and Trousers
    • Keeping Warm in the Regency Era, Part One
      Keeping Warm in the Regency Era, Part One
    • Social Customs During the Regency
      Social Customs During the Regency
    • Dancing at the Netherfield Ball: Pride and Prejudice
      Dancing at the Netherfield Ball: Pride and Prejudice
    • The Servant's Quarters in 19th Century Country Houses Like Downton Abbey
      The Servant's Quarters in 19th Century Country Houses Like Downton Abbey
    • Regency Hygiene: The Bourdaloue
      Regency Hygiene: The Bourdaloue
    • Pride and Prejudice Economics: Or Why a Single Man with a Fortune of £4,000 Per Year is a Desirable Husband
      Pride and Prejudice Economics: Or Why a Single Man with a Fortune of £4,000 Per Year is a Desirable Husband
  • Recent Posts

    • Winter, Regency Style
    • Book Review: Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
    • Tracing Jane Austen’s Royal Ancestors Via Her Parents, by Ronald Dunning
    • Happy Birthday, Cassandra Austen!
    • Segmented Sleep: A common Phenomenon Before the Industrial Revolution
  • Links to Jane Austen Blogs

    Click here to enter the page. Topics include Regency fashion, historic foods, Jane Austen societies, British sites, related topics. Click on image.

  • May we suggest?

  • Hello, my name is Vic and I live in Maryland, USA. I have adored Jane Austen almost all of my life. I am a proud lifetime member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me and my team. We do not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we do accept and keep books and CDs to review.

    If you would like to share a new site, or point out an error, please email us. (Yes, we are fallible. We'll own up to our mistakes and will make the corrections with a polite smile on our faces.) Write us at

    gmailbw

    Thank you for visiting this blog. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

  • Project Gutenberg: eBook of Stage-coach and Mail in Days of Yore, Volume 2 (of 2), by Charles G. Harper

    STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE: A PICTURESQUE HISTORY
    OF THE COACHING AGE, VOL. II, By CHARLES G. HARPER. 1903. Click on this link.

     

  • Top Posts & Pages

    • Winter, Regency Style
    • Men's hair styles at the turn of the 19th century
    • Highclere Castle Floor Plan: The Real Downton Abbey
    • Regency Fashion: Men's Breeches, Pantaloons, and Trousers
    • Keeping Warm in the Regency Era, Part One
    • Social Customs During the Regency
    • Dancing at the Netherfield Ball: Pride and Prejudice
    • The Servant's Quarters in 19th Century Country Houses Like Downton Abbey
    • Regency Hygiene: The Bourdaloue
    • Pride and Prejudice Economics: Or Why a Single Man with a Fortune of £4,000 Per Year is a Desirable Husband
  • Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape
  • Disclaimer: Our team makes no profit from this blog. We may receive books (physical or digitized) and DVDs for review purposes.

  • Copyright Statement: © Jane Austen's World blog, 2009-2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jane Austen's World with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Jane Austen's World
    • Join 7,124 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Jane Austen's World
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: