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.
“At the end of the sixteenth century there was living at Horsmonden—a small village in the Weald of Kent—a certain John Austen. . . . a man of considerable means, owning property in Kent and Sussex and elsewhere . . . including in all probability the manor house of Broadford in Horsmonden. . . . [His wealth was] doubtless derived from the clothing trade. . . . John Austen died in 1620, leaving a large family. . . . The fifth son, Francis, who died in 1687, describes himself in his will as a clothier, of Grovehurst; this place being, like Broadford, a pretty timbered house of moderate size near the picturesque old village of Horsmonden. Both houses still belong to the Austen family.”—Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters, 1913, chapter 1 [A “weald” is a heavily wooded area.]
George Austen’s family hailed from Horsmonden, a village in rural Kent. Its name means “horsemen’s woodland pasture.” It is 12 miles from Tonbridge, where George Austen grew up, and 29 miles from Godmersham, where Jane’s brother inherited an estate from their Knight relatives in Kent.
The Horsmonden church, St. Margaret’s, looks much the same as when the tower was completed in the late fourteenth century.
Inside of St. Margaret’s Horsmonden church. The rector gave the parish this brass chandelier in 1703. It holds candles.
Horsmonden Village
St. Margaret’s church is about 2 miles outside of the village. The village has been a center at various times for different industries. Their ironworks supplied weapons and ammunition for the English Civil War in the mid-1600s. Earlier in the 1600s, Horsmonden’s clothworks produced Kentish broadcloth, mainly as a cottage industry in weavers’ homes. The Austens were the “clothmasters,” living in homes called “halls” that combined private residences with offices and warehouses. Later the area became known for growing hops, used in brewing beer.
The Austens at Horsmonden
Flagstone on floor of St. Margaret’s Horsmonden commemorating John Austen I (1560-1620) and his wife and children, Jane Austen’s ancestors.
The first John Austen and his son Francis are buried in the Horsmonden church. As the historian who authored St. Margaret’s Church Horsmonden wrote, “This was the family, let it be noted, from which sprang the immortal Jane.” John Austen I was Jane Austen’s grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather.
Railed tomb in St. Margaret’s churchyard for a number of Austen ancestors, with the letter A in the fence.
The Austen lineage:
John Austen I (Jane’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, Horsmonden)
—Francis I (great-great-great-grandfather, Horsmonden)
—John Austen III (great-great-grandfather, Horsmonden)
—John Austen IV (great-grandfather, Horsmonden)
—William Austen the surgeon (grandfather, Tonbridge)
—Rev. George Austen (father, Tonbridge, Steventon)
—Jane Austen (Steventon)
Stained glass window in St. Margaret’s Horsmonden, showing St. Paul and St. Cecilia, inscribed to the memory of John Francis Austen (1817-1893) and his daughters Georgiana (died age 15) and Charlotte.
Historic St. Margaret’s, Horsmonden
The porch, built in the fifteenth century, has many of its original timbers. It was used as a lych gate, where the coffin and coffin-bearers rested before a funeral. Before the Reformation, weddings were held there, and the first parts of the baptism and funeral services.
Brass flagstone at St. Margaret’s commemorating Rev. Henry de Grofhurst, rector 1311 to 1361, who directed the building of the church we see now. Earlier church buildings occupied the site from at least 1100.
A “parclose screen” from around 1500, inscribed in Latin, “Pray for the good health of Alice Sampson.” It would have screened off one of the smaller chapels in the church, which were devoted to various saints. This screen was likely originally painted in bright colors with gilding. Alice’s will (she died in 1508) requested that she be buried in the churchyard within sight of her home.
St. Margaret’s has had bells since at least 1528. Some of the current eight bells date from 1737 but were later recast. This photo shows their positions when not in use.
92 steps lead up to the roof of the tower.
We stopped about a third of the way up (whew!) in the ringing chamber.
A sign at St. Margaret’s celebrating the bell ringers who rang “a peal of 5024 Cambridge surprise major [a complex bell ringing pattern] in 3 hours 18 minutes” and commemorating the death of one of their members whose family included “a line of ringers unbroken since 1799.”
You can see where stone workers finished these Wealdon sandstone stones for the church. On one, someone inscribed his name in 1777. A little Georgian graffiti, apparently!
Stained glass window showing St. Margaret and Sir Galahad (I suppose because he was a knight/soldier) in St. Margaret’s Horsmonden to the memory of Major Simon Willard (1605-1676), who emigrated with his wife to the American colonies. He was the founder of Concord, Massachusetts and served as a soldier under Governor John Winthrop.
The baptismal font, where babies are christened and adults can also be baptized, dates from the early 17th century but was copied from one in the early fifteenth century. The designs on the side alternate between shields and floral figures.
I had to include this tombstone for a William Collins, died 1863, age 74, so he was born when Jane Austen was about 13 or 14.
This lovely organ at St. Margaret’s Horsmonden was built in 1837.
A little science from Austen’s time: A memorial in the church to John Read (1760-1847), a local man who invented a stomach pump (saving many lives), a fire escape, and “many other useful implements for the benefit and relief of suffering humanity. Of humble origins, he yet possessed talents which would have done honour to the highest station.” He used them for doing good “in submission to the will of the Great Creator.” Read’s Stomach Pump
St. Margaret’s Horsmonden Today
The parish includes over 2,000 people. Only about 40 regularly attend services in the church, while another 60-70 watch on YouTube. Many are in the church’s WhatsApp group, supporting one another in prayer. Much larger crowds, up to about 150, attend the church for weddings, funerals, baptisms, and holidays. On Good Friday they put up three crosses on the village green and have a large service there.
The church also hosts community events including concerts, popular speakers, and Jane Austen readings, and they go into the schools once a month to “open the Book,” teaching the Bible to school children. St. Margaret’s varies their services, offering traditional and modern communion services, family-oriented services, outdoor events, a café, and an informal worship time. Modern Anglican churches can range from very formal Anglo-Catholic styles to more relaxed evangelical styles. Horsmonden tends toward the more “low church,” evangelical approach.
The “living churchyard” of St. Margaret’s encourages a biodiverse habitat around the church. The church is part of Eco Church, “a Christian environmental movement encouraging church communities to make changes to their worship, teaching, land and buildings management, community and global engagement, and lifestyle to reflect God’s care for the Earth.”
St. Margaret’s supports a number of charities, both local and abroad, and encourages recycling and avoiding waste. Another notice board says the church is known for supporting the surrounding community and being welcoming, friendly, and prayerful.
Peaceful
Historian Anthony Cronk closes St. Margaret’s Horsmonden by saying:
“Today St. Margaret’s is essentially a parish church and a place of regular worship . . . it also attracts visitors from far and near. In this rural spot, away from the bustle of everyday life, one can spend a quiet moment savouring ‘the peace which passeth all understanding’. Jesus himself was referring to the need for this kind of occasional withdrawal when ‘he said unto them, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile:” for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat’ (Mark 6:31).
“Worship needs its focusing points in time and space; there must be holy places as well as holy days—places set apart for ever because of some association, hallowed by age-long custom—where people expect to find something inspiring and are not disappointed.
“One such place is St. Margaret’s, Horsmonden.”
Gentle readers, may you find such a place of peace and inspiration wherever you are.
“I am all alone. Edward is gone into his woods. At this present time I have five tables, eight-and-twenty chairs, and two fires all to myself.”—Jane Austen writing from Godmersham, Nov. 3, 1813
Jane Austen’s brother Edward, adopted by wealthy relatives, inherited not one, but two extensive estates. Jane and her mother and sister eventually lived in a cottage at Chawton in the county of Hampshire, Edward’s secondary estate. You can still visit Chawton House and Chawton Church.
Godmersham Park
Godmersham Park today. This estate was probably one inspiration for Pemberley. Edward Knight’s income was even higher than Mr. Darcy’s, but Edward had to run two estates.
Jane and Cassandra often enjoyed the luxuries at Edward’s main residence at Godmersham Park, in the county of Kent. Edward, his wife Elizabeth, and their eleven children often needed the help and company of Edward’s poorer sisters. Sixty-one of Austen’s surviving letters (out of 161) were written either from or to Godmersham. Jane spent a total of ten months of her life at Godmersham.
Entrance to Godmersham Park today. American owners in the 1930s, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tritton, remodeled the house. In Austen’s time it was three stories, with painted bricks on the front (which were turned around when the house was remodeled). The back and front of the house were reversed from today.
In 1808, Jane wrote of her brother James and his wife, “James and Mary are much struck with the beauty of the place” (June 15). She herself was enjoying ice cream, a Regency delicacy, and wine: “I shall eat Ice and drink French wine, and be above Vulgar Economy” (June 30). No doubt Elizabeth Bennet, once she marries Darcy, will enjoy such luxuries as well!
One of two “follies” at Godmersham Park built from two facades of white pillars that were originally at the front of the main house.
The Godmersham Park Heritage Centre is a small museum showcasing portraits, photos, and artefacts of earlier times.
Servant-Friends
Jane Austen made two friends among the servants at Godmersham. Anne Sharp was her niece Fanny’s governess; Jane later corresponded with her. Susannah Sackree was the children’s nurse. Both are often mentioned in Austen’s letters. For example:
“Pray say everything kind for us to Miss Sharpe, who could not regret the shortness of our meeting in Canterbury more than we did. I hope she returned to Godmersham as much pleased with Mrs. Knight’s beauty and Miss Milles’ judicious remarks as those ladies respectively were with hers.”—Jane Austen, Aug. 30, 1805
“Sackree is pretty well again, only weak. Much obliged to you for your message, &c.; it was very true that she blessed herself the whole time that the pain was not in her stomach. I read all the scraps I could of your letter to her. She seemed to like it, and says she shall always like to hear anything of Chawton now” —Jane Austen at Godmersham, Sept. 23, 1813
Memorial in the Godmersham church to Susanna Sackree, the Knight family’s beloved nurse. Sackree’s original memorial outside is illegible, so JASNA donated this parchment version. It calls her “faithful servant and friend for nearly 60 years” and says that at her own request the following was written on her tombstone: “Flee from evil, and do the thing that is good, for the Lord loves the thing that is good. Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right, for that shall bring a man peace at the last.” Then, “My dearest friends I leave behind/ Who were to me so good and kind/ The Lord I hope will all them bless/ And my poor soul will be at rest.”
One exhibit at the Godmersham Park Heritage Centre maps the living quarters of the servants and shows items they would have used.
The Library
Austen’s favorite part of the house, not surprisingly, was the extensive library. Like Darcy’s “delightful library” at Pemberley, it was “the work of many generations,” with Edward Knight “always buying books,” like Darcy, to add to it. Jane wrote:
“We live in the library except at meals, and have a fire every evening. . . . I am now alone in the library, mistress of all I survey; at least I may say so, and repeat the whole poem if I like it, without offence to anybody.”—Jane Austen at Godmersham, Sept. 23, 1813. The poem is “Verses on Alexander Selkirk” by William Cowper; Selkirk’s real adventures were the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.
“The Comfort of the Billiard Table here is very great. It draws all the gentlemen to it whenever they are within, especially after dinner, so that my brother, Fanny, and I have the library to ourselves in delightful quiet.”—Oct. 14, 1813
The 1818 catalogue of the library lists more than 1200 books. The books in the library were removed to Chawton before Godmersham was sold in 1874. Most were later dispersed. The library’s bookshelves were removed and the area split into offices. The website “Reading with Austen” is an attempt to digitally recreate the library Jane Austen so much enjoyed.
Godmersham Park is now a college of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO College) and is not open to the public. However, we were allowed to see the front rooms. Here you can see the collage of the old, classical decorations of the entry room and the newer apparatus of the opticians association.
Godmersham Park entry area.
Godmersham Park still has beautiful gardens. The grounds were once quite extensive, like those of Pemberley, and you can still roam around and see different types of gardens.
The “Lime Walk” is another lovely part of the Godmersham Park gardens. Emma walks in a lime walk at Donwell Abbey.
When Austen visited Godmersham, she attended church at St. Lawrence the Martyr parish church of Godmersham. On Thursday we explore that church.
“Edward & I settled that you went to St. Paul’s Covent Garden, on Sunday.”—Jane Austen, letter to Cassandra from Godmersham Park, Oct. 26, 1813
Covent Garden
We’ve been visiting London churches mentioned in Austen’s novels. Now let’s go to one mentioned in her letters. In the fall of 1813, Jane was staying with her brother Edward and his family at Godmersham Park. Cassandra was visiting their brother Henry at 10 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London. He lived in a flat above his bank. (For locations Henry lived in London, see Jane Austen’s Visits to London.) Covent Garden was known for its fruit and vegetable market, as well as, unfortunately, its prostitutes.
Jane Austen’s London offered two official theatres, at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. Both were in the church parish served by St. Paul’s Covent Garden, and Austen saw plays at both. She was planning to see a play at the Covent Garden theatre when she visited Henry a month earlier:
“Fanny and the two little girls are gone to take places for to-night at Covent Garden; “Clandestine Marriage” and “Midas.” The latter will be a fine show for L. and M.” (Lizzie and Marianne)—Sept. 15, 1813 (Fanny was the eldest daughter of Jane’s brother Edward Austen Knight; her mother had died five years earlier. Lizzie and Marianne were Fanny’s younger sisters. Edward was with them but staying at a nearby hotel.)
Jane and Edward assumed Cassandra would go to church at St. Paul’s Covent Garden, since it was Henry’s parish church. Jane probably attended that church herself when any of her visits to Henrietta Street lasted over a Sunday. She and her family regularly attended church on Sundays, wherever they were.
The old Covent Garden Theatre building is at the center of the modern Royal Opera House.
The Actors’ Church
The Covent Garden area today offers more than twenty theatres. St. Paul’s, called “The Actors’ Church,” hosts concerts and plays in the church and in its walled garden. They have an in-house professional theatre company, Iris Theatre. The church’s summer schedule for this year includes Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, along with several Shakespeare productions and children’s shows. To accommodate such events, the church replaced deteriorating Victorian pews with custom-made movable and stackable pews.
Signs announce upcoming shows and services at St. Paul’s Covent Garden, the Actors’ Church.
The inside of the church commemorates famous entertainers wherever you look. Hundreds of plaques adorn the walls of the church, the backs of the pews, and the garden benches and walls.
Wall plaques at St. Paul’s Covent Garden. Vivien Leigh’s is in the top right center.
Some plaques are memorials to the church’s leaders and parishioners, as you would see in other English churches. But most remind visitors of famous people such as Vivien Leigh (star of Gone with the Wind), Boris Karloff (who played Frankenstein’s monster), Thomas Arne (who wrote “Rule, Britannia” around 1740), Sir Charles Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin), and others.
A variety of memorials line the walls of St. Paul’s Covent Garden. The central memorial is to John Bellamy Plowman, his son who died in 1811 at age 17, his son’s wife, and six children who died in infancy. The monument above it is from 1879. The grey and white plaque to the left is to Thomas Arne, “musician and parishioner,” 1710-1778, who wrote the anthem “Rule Britannia.” To the right are three twentieth century plaques, honoring playwright Sir Terence Rattigan; author, composer, and actor Sir Noel Coward; and actor Sir Charles Chaplin. A line of more modern brown plaques is below.
Besides actors and actresses, plaques commemorate dancers, singers, directors, theatre managers, patrons, choreographers, drama teachers, playwrights, and even a “critic, journalist, wit.” One woman is listed as “Actress, Producer, Supernova.” The church charges hefty fees to install these plaques (around £3000 for a plaque on the wall). These fees have kept the church solvent.
Memorials on the backs of pews at St. Paul’s Covent Garden
History
The church was designed by Inigo Jones and consecrated to St. Paul in 1638.
Covent Garden churchyard statue of St. Paul seeing a vision on the road to Damascus.
Jones designed it with a great East Door into the main piazza of Covent Garden. However, that would have put the altar at the west end of the church, which went against Christian tradition. At the last moment, the Bishop of London decreed that the altar had to be in the east end of the church, so the East Door doesn’t open. Entry is through the churchyard, from the sides of the building.
Front of St. Paul’s Covent Garden, with the false door in the center.
Various famous people are buried in the churchyard, including the painter JMW Turner and the first victim of the Great Plague of London, who died in 1665. In the 1850s, Parliament stopped all burials in central London churches. At that time, the headstones were removed and the gardens laid out as they are today.
Lovely garden in the churchyard of St. Paul’s Covent Garden
A fire destroyed much of the church in 1795, but it was rebuilt so that today it is much as Austen would have seen it.
Entrance from the churchyard of St. Paul’s Covent Garden.
Rectors
When Jane Austen was there, Edward Embry was the rector, from 1810-1817. She might have heard him preach, but she does not mention him in her letters. His portrait is in the National Gallery.
The rector who kindly showed us around when we visited was Rev. Simon Grigg, who has been rector since 2006. His bio says “When not in church you will usually find him in a bar, a theatre or the gym.” The assistant rector, Rev. Richard Syms, is a professional actor and theatre manager as well as a priest.
The pulpit of St. Paul’s Covent Garden was designed by Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) or his students.
Worship
The church offers communion services on Sundays and Wednesdays, and brief Morning Prayer services Tuesday through Friday. Their choir sings Choral Evensong once a month. Rev. Grigg told us that attendance on Sundays is about 50 people, plus those who attend online. The church seats 200.
Chancel of St. Paul’s Covent Garden. Note the camera on the right.
They have larger services for Easter and for midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Of course they also host weddings, baptisms, and funerals. According to their website, “St Paul’s is well known because of its memorial services for members of the theatrical and entertainment community, but we also offer them for the local community.”
Welcome sign to St. Paul’s Covent Garden; text is below.
“We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, widowed, straight, gay, confused, well-heeled or down at heel. We especially welcome wailing babies and excited toddlers.
We welcome you whether you can sing like Pavarotti or just growl quietly to yourself. You’re welcome here if you’re ‘just browsing’, just woken up or just got out of prison. We don’t care if you’re more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury or haven’t been to church since Christmas ten years ago.
We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome keep-fit mums, football dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters.
We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you are having problems, are down in the dumps, or don’t like ‘organized religion’.
We offer a welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell or are here because granny is visiting and wanted to come to church.
We welcome those who are inked, pierced, both or neither. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down their throats as kids, or got lost in Covent Garden and wound up here by mistake.
We welcome pilgrims, tourists, seekers, doubters, . . . and you!”
No doubt Jane Austen and her family would have felt welcome in the church, especially with their love of the theatre.
For over 10 years I have searched for a full digitized copy of John Tallis’s London street views, 1838-1840. It is 328 pages long and includes an introduction with a biographical essay of Tallis by Peter Jackson.This book, digitized by Google from an original copy owned by the University of Michigan, also includes revised and enlarged views of 1847 London.
Purpose of this Blog Post:
The resources in this post are aimed at the interests of:
Authors who are researching details of London’s streets and maps during the Regency era and Early Victorian London, as well as contemporary paintings and illustrations from that period.
Faculty and teacher research.
Student learning regarding research and uncovering historical details.
Our readers’ curiosity and for those who are interested in learning more about 19th century London.
Our story: HathiTrust was founded in 2008 as a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries now preserving 18+ million digitized items in the HathiTrust Digital Library. We offer reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S. and international copyright law, text and data mining tools for the entire corpus, and other emerging services based on the combined collection.”
HathiTrust digital library: The HathiTrust Digital Library is home to millions of digitized books and publications. Our team works diligently alongside research institutions to preserve and grow this collection while providing lawful access to visitors around the world.”
This very useful site also offers links to many more books from the past, where you’ll find a rich source of 18+ million unique and historic books that have been digitized. Forty per cent can be read by the public, and copyrights and access are explicitly explained. See “How to Search and Access.”
In addition:
Find thousands of Images at the London Picture Archive, which is managed by The London Archives on behalf of the City of LondonCorporation.
For Example, when I typed “Hyde Park” in this site’s search bar, a wealth of images appeared that gave life to Austen’s era. Combined with the Tallis maps, these resources provide a more comprehensive view of life during the Regency era as it was, as opposed to reproductions in today’s film sets, lets say. (Also see Horwood’s Maps in the link at the end of this post.)
New Bond Street
River Thames
West view of St. Paul’s Cathedral and surrounding streets
Who is John Tallis?:
John Tallis: 1816-1876
The biographic introduction to this book by Peter Jackson includes a vast amount of information about his life. (Image @ Hathi Trust)
Other information about Tallis:
“The Life of John Tallis – Map Maker and Cartographer”: biography excerpt from the Old Maps Library blog
“Tallis … produced a series of street views of central London that are breathtaking. His images showed detailed views of the streets using the facades of the buildings. These street views are much like we use Google street view today, giving us a sense of what the city looked like in the early Victorian era.”
“Tallis was born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire in 1817, and moved to London in about 1841… A blue plaque commemorates his final residence at 233, New Cross Road. He died in 3 June 1876.”
“I dread the idea of going to Bookham as much as you can do”—Jan. 9, 1799
“My scheme is to take Bookham in my way home for a few days . . . I have a most kind repetition of Mrs. Cooke’s two or three dozen invitations, with the offer of meeting me anywhere” –Nov. 3, 1813
We’ve been looking at some of Jane’s mother’s Leigh family. The Austens also corresponded regularly with the Cooke family in Great Bookham, who are often mentioned in Jane’s letters. Mrs. Cooke was Jane’s mother’s cousin. Her name was the same as Jane’s mother’s: Cassandra Leigh. She was the daughter of Jane’s uncle Theophilus Leigh, master of Balliol College at Oxford.
This cousin’s husband, Rev. Samuel Cooke, was Jane’s godfather. He was the vicar of St. Nicolas’, Great Bookham. He was also rector of Cottisford, Oxon, about 80 miles away, but he and his family lived in Great Bookham.
Godparents play an important role in Anglican families.They promise to pray for the child’s salvation, faith, and obedience, and, at the child’s baptism, they renounce the devil on the child’s behalf. A girl has one godfather and two godmothers.
Memorial plaque in St. Nicolas’ Church, Great Bookham, to Jane Austen’s godfather, Rev. Samuel Cooke, “formerly fellow of Baliol College Oxford, and for fifty-two years the resident and respected vicar of this parish. He died March 29th, 1820, in the eightieth year of his age. Guided by a spirit of piety and benevolence and by an inflexible sense of duty, which sought not the honour that cometh of man, he ran his long course in peace and content; and closed it in an humble trust on that blessed hope, ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'”
The Incumbents (vicars, then rectors) of the Great Bookham church lists Samuel Cooke from 1769 to 1820.
Jane Austen visited the Cookes in Great Bookham, which is between Chawton and London, a number of times. We don’t know why she did not want to go there in 1799, but she visited from May 14 to June 2.
St. Nicolas’ Church, Great Bookham, externally still much as it was when Jane Austen visited there. See this image by JMW Turner.
Great Bookham in Austen’s Novels
Jane made good use of her visit. In 1801, she started writing The Watsons. Its setting in “Stanton” was apparently based on West Humble (now Westhumble), a town near Great Bookham. It is three miles from Dorking, which Austen calls “the town of D. in Surrey.” Betchworth Castle is nearby, so it may be the basis for Osborne Castle in the novel.
After probably visiting several more times, in the summer of 1814, Austen decided to visit the Cookes again. On June 14, she wrote,
“The only Letter to day is from Mrs. Cooke to me. They . . . want me to come to them according to my promise.—And after considering everything, I have resolved on going. . . . In addition to their standing claims on me, they admire Mansfield Park exceedingly. Mr. Cooke says ‘it is the most sensible Novel he ever read’—and the manner in which I treat the Clergy, delights them very much.—Altogether I must go–& I want you [Cassandra] to join me there . . .”
One commentator (Chapman) says the Cookes may have had Evangelical leanings and appreciated Mansfield Park’s protest against lax views of the duties of the clergy. Evangelical or not, Edmund Bertram of Mansfield Park does present a very high view of the clergy. He says, for example:
“I cannot call that situation [of clergyman] nothing which has the charge of all that is of the first importance to mankind, individually or collectively considered, temporally and eternally, which has the guardianship of religion and morals, and consequently of the manners which result from their influence. No one here can call the office nothing. . . . it will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.”
Jane Austen apparently based Highbury in Emma on Great Bookham or the adjacent town of Leatherhead.
When Jane Austen visited in 1814, she was in the midst of writing Emma. She later told her nephew that Leatherhead, next to Great Bookham, was the model for Highbury. Box Hill, where Emma and her friends picnic, is nearby, and Great Bookham had an Old Crown Inn similar to the one in Highbury. (It was, however, demolished in 1930). There was also a Randalls Park, and other features similar to Highbury.
View from Box Hill, where Emma and her friends picnic in Emma. (Tony Grant points out that this wonderful view is not from the exact spot where they held their picnic. “Frank Churchill, when he gets up to to proclaim to the world, says that Dorking is to his left and Mickleham to his right. That can only mean the picnic took place on the Burford Spur of Box Hill.” You can find photos of other views in his posts linked below.)
Box Hill
Box Hill is still a beautiful spot for picnics, hiking, walking, and cycling. The current rector of Great Bookham, Alan Jenkins, kindly took us to visit there. It includes a cycling trail. In the 2012 Olympics, cyclists made nine laps on this trail as part of their route.
The Vicarage
The Cookes’ parsonage, where Jane Austen stayed, was a large one. (A maid working there was named Elizabeth Bennet, by the way.) They had at least six children, but only three survived to adulthood. Their daughter Mary, who apparently did not marry, was a good friend of Jane’s, mentioned in her letters. Their son Theophilus Leigh Cooke (1778-1846) became a clergyman, a fellow of Magdalen College at Oxford, and holder of three church livings. His brother George Leigh Cooke (1779-1853) combined religion and science. He was a fellow of Corpus Christi College and earned a bachelor of divinity (a graduate degree). He also became a professor of Natural Philosophy (science) at Oxford, a keeper of the archives, and published an edition of Newton’s Principia Mathematica. Austen’s nephew, James-Edward Austen-Leigh wrote in his Memoir that George was “an impressive preacher of earnest and awakening sermons,” which, in the jargon of the time, implies that he was an Evangelical. Jane mentions in one of her letters that George “was very kind & talked sense to me every now & then” (Apr. 21, 1805).
Until 1869, Great Bookham had vicars, not rectors, so the parsonage was called a vicarage. The patron of the parish (a person who changed over the years), took part of the tithes and the rest went to the vicar, along with income from the glebe farmland belonging to the living. It is speculated that some of the excommunications in the Vestry Books were for non-payment of tithes (from 1800: Great Bookham at the Time of Jane Austen).
The parsonage was removed in 1961. For early pictures, see here. The parish now has a rector; the term no longer refers to tithes. His rectory is a modern building.
St. Nicolas’ Church, Great Bookham, History
Jane Austen must have worshiped in this church, where her godfather was the vicar, a number of times on her visits to Great Bookham.
When Austen visited, the church was full of box pews with walls around them. Some were three feet high, some were four feet high. The box pews were replaced by regular pews in 1885.
This wooden gate was added to side of the Great Bookham church in 1914. In Austen’s time, there was an external staircase here to an upper room, where Sunday school was held. Sunday schools, run by Christians of all denominations across England, educated the poor and enabled them to build better lives.
The church tower of St. Nicolas’ Great Bookham dates back to the 1100s. The clock in it was not there when Austen visited. Some years ago, the tower was in danger of falling down. The whole village got behind the project of fixing it, and raised even more than the large sum necessary to save the tower.
The chancel of the Great Bookham church was built in the 1300s, though when Jane Austen saw it, it did not have stained glass.
Other Literary Connections at Great Bookham
Great Bookham has a number of literary connections, some of which Jane Austen would have known about.
Cassandra Cooke, Jane Austen’s mother’s cousin, published her novel, Battleridge: An Historical Tale founded on facts, in 1799, by “a lady of quality.” Austen mentions it in her letters. Available on archive.org in two volumes.
Fanny Burney, one of Jane Austen’s favorite authors, lived here at the Hermitage with her husband, General Alexandre D’Arblay. Their son was baptized in the nearby Great Bookham church in 1795.
Fanny Burney wrote of the Cookes, “the father is worthy, the mother is good, so deserving, so liberal and so infinitely kind, that the world certainly does not abound with people to compare them with. The eldest son is a remarkably pleasing young man. The young seems sulky, as the sister is haughty.” She also wrote of Rev. Cooke, “Our vicar is a very worthy man and goodish—though by no means a marvellously rapid preacher.”
She also wrote to her father, Dr. Burney, “Mr. Cooke tells me he longs for nothing so much as a conversation with you on the subject of Parish Psalm singing—he complains that the Methodists run away with the regular congregation from their superiority in vocal devotion.” The Methodists, led by John and Charles Wesley, had been leading a revival in the church. They attracted people with lively hymns. Country churches were mostly singing psalms, often quite poorly, at this time, though hymns were beginning to be introduced into some churches.
Old and new: St. Nicolas’ pipe organ today. In 1800, the Great Bookham church only had a barrel organ that could play ten tunes. It accompanied their choir of Singers who sang from the West Gallery (balcony) of the church. So their music was probably better than that of many country churches at the time, which often had no musical instruments. This photo shows a memorial tomb/statue that Austen would have seen. The pulpit would have been higher, however, to be seen over the box pews. The blue bulletin board is modern, showing charities the church supports.
Playwright and politician Richard Sheridan (1751-1816), who wrote The Rivals and School for Scandal, owned several manors in the area around Great Bookham.
Later, teenaged C. S. Lewis lived in Great Bookham from 1914-1917, being educated by a private tutor, William T. Kirkpatrick.
St. Nicolas’ Church, Great Bookham, Today
St. Nicolas’ is a very active church, larger than the others we have “visited” so far. I was told the parish includes eleven to twelve thousand people. The electoral role of St. Nicolas’ lists about 250 members, and around 140 attend on Sundays. Three other ministers and five staff members assist the rector in serving the church. The church holds services every Sunday, Communion on Thursdays and Sundays, and several weekly prayer meetings. Members also meet in housegroups.
This board welcomes people to St. Nicolas’, Great Bookham, and advertises concerts and other community events held at the church.
The area also includes Baptist, Catholic, and United Reformed churches, and St. Nicolas’ cooperates with them on projects like Alpha Courses, designed to address people’s questions about Christian faith.
A few years ago, the church removed the Victorian pews and substituted chairs. This gives them the flexibility to hold various kinds of services and to host community events.
Religious education and daily worship are required to be offered in British government schools (student participation is optional). The rector, Alan Jenkins, provides some of this in local schools, briefly sharing a Bible story, prayer, and sometimes a song. School groups also come into the church for harvest or Easter services, with programs organized by the teachers.
Prayer stations around the church offer ideas for personal prayer.
An interesting aside for you: St. Nicolas’ Great Bookham has many lovely stained glass windows today, though there were none when Jane Austen visited. This one honors St. George, patron saint of England; St. Michael, who in the Bible defeats the great dragon, the devil; and St. Martin using his sword to cut his cloak in half in order to give half to a beggar in winter. These windows, with military images, are dedicated to Guy Cuthbert Dawnay, a soldier and Conservative politician. A large cross dedicated to Dawnay in the churchyard says he “was killed by a buffalo while on a hunting expedition in Masailand, E. Africa,” Feb. 28, 1889. Both have verses from Isaiah 60:19-20 about the Lord being his everlasting light.
On the day we visited the Great Bookham church, the central kneeling cushion at the altar commemorated Jane Austen’s connection with the church.
I hope you are enjoying learning about Jane Austen’s churches along with me. There is so much history at these old churches, as well as continuing community life and worship today.
1800: Great Bookham at the Time of Jane Austen, Fanny Burney, and R. B. Sheridan, published by the Parochial Council of St. Nicolas Great Bookham (booklet available at the church, funded by JASNA)
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.
Available through December 31st, 2025. Click on image for details, and share this poster with other teachers and students!
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:
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.
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
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.
