Jane Austen's World

From her birth in 1775 until her family moved to Bath in 1801, Jane Austen spent most of her time in a small triangle of villages: Steventon, Ashe, and Deane. Her father was rector of both Steventon and Deane, leading services and preaching at both parish churches, and serving the people of both communities.

Deane Parsonage and Living

George and Cassandra Austen lived in the Deane parsonage until 1768 when the Steventon parsonage was ready. Their first three children, James, George, and Edward, were born there. Mrs. Austen’s widowed mother, Jane Leigh, also lived with them at Deane, though she died shortly after the move to Steventon.

The Steventon living was worth only about £100 a year, including about three acres of glebe farmland. So Mr. Knight also let George Austen farm the 200-acre Cheesedown Farm for more income. Still, the Austens found the income too low to support their rapidly growing family. George’s great-uncle Francis of Sevenoaks in Kent bought the options on two nearby livings, Ashe and Deane, for George’s benefit.

The rector of Deane died before the rector of Ashe, so George Austen took the living for the parish of Deane, and Francis sold the other option to another relative, who later installed the Lefroys at Ashe. In 1773, Mr. Austen became rector of Deane, another small parish of “about two dozen families of farm labourers . . . worth £110” per year (Le Faye, 25). He also began taking in boys as students, to further supplement his income.

The Deane parsonage now belonged to George Austen, as part of the living. From 1786-1788, Madam Lefroy’s younger brother, Egerton Brydges, rented it from him and lived there. In 1789, George advertised the parsonage for rent, as “a neat brick dwelling-house with four living-rooms and four bedrooms, as well as all the necessary store rooms and servants’ quarter, plus a large garden, coach-house and stabling for six horses” (Le Faye, 68), making it sound more desirable than it had been. The next tenants were a clergyman’s widow, Mrs. Lloyd, and her daughters Martha and Mary. (Good Bible names for sisters; see John 11.) Martha and Mary soon became close friends of Jane and her sister Cassandra. Eventually both Lloyd sisters married into the Austen family.

In 1792, Jane’s eldest brother James and his wife Anne took over Deane parsonage, spending £200 to refurnish it, more than they could actually afford. James became his father’s curate at Deane, also serving two other small parishes. Their daughter Anna (Jane Anna Elizabeth Austen) was born in the Deane parsonage in 1793, with the help of her grandmother. “Mrs. Austen rose from her bed in the middle of the night, and walked by the light of a lantern a mile and a half of muddy country lane to attend her [daughter-in-law], and to usher into the world a new grandchild” (Le Faye, 84).

James’s wife Anne died in 1795, and Mary Lloyd returned to Deane parsonage as James’s second wife in 1797. In 1801, James and his family moved to the Steventon parsonage when George Austen retired to Bath. James served as curate of Steventon until his father died in 1805, when James became rector of Steventon.

Jane Austen’s Connections with Deane

Jane Austen mentions Deane in 27 of her existing letters. She also includes it in one of her juvenile pieces, “Memoirs of Mr. Clifford.” Mr. Clifford’s “first Day’s Journey carried him only to Dean Gate where he remained a few Days and found himself much benefited by the change of Air.” She is referring to the Deane Gate Inn, where men of the Austen family would catch the stagecoach. It is now a restaurant, the Palm Brasserie.

Jane often visited the parsonage at Deane, first when the Lloyds were living there, then when her brother and his family were there. Dampness and flooding were still an issue. On Oct. 27, 1798, she wrote:

“There has been a great deal of rain here for this last fortnight, much more than in Kent, and indeed we found the roads all the way from Staines most disgracefully dirty. Steventon lane has its full share of it, and I don’t know when I shall be able to get to Deane.”

In November and December she again talks about visits to her sister-in-law Mary at Deane, who gave birth to James Edward (who became Jane Austen’s first biographer) on Nov. 17:

I went to Deane with my father two days ago to see Mary, who is still plagued with the rheumatism, which she would be very glad to get rid of, and still more glad to get rid of her child, of whom she is heartily tired. Her nurse is come and has no particular charm either of person or manner; but as all the Hurstbourne world pronounce her to be the best nurse that ever was, Mary expects her attachment to increase. . . . Sunday. — I have just received a note from James to say that Mary was brought to bed last night, at eleven o’clock, of a fine little boy, and that everything is going on very well. My mother had desired to know nothing of it before it should be all over, and we were clever enough to prevent her having any suspicion of it”—Nov. 17-18, 1798

Jane continued to visit Mary every few days, reporting on her health. She even visited when ice covered the ground: 

“I enjoyed the hard black Frosts of last week very much, & one day while they lasted walked to Deane by myself.–I do not know that I ever did such a thing in my life before. . . . Mary went to Church on Sunday, & had the weather been smiling, we would have seen her here before this time”—Dec. 18, 1798.  This may have been when Mary was “churched,” a ceremony celebrating the safety of a mother after childbirth.

The main families of Deane, Steventon, and Ashe all visited each other and went to balls together. Jane danced at the Harwoods’ ball, in Deane, on Jan. 8, 1796. She often mentions John Harwood in her letters; for example:

“This morning has been made very gay to us, by visits from our two lively Neighbours, Mr. Holder and Mr. John Harwood.”—Dec. 18, 1798

All Saints Church at Deane, Then and Now

In July, 1818, the Norman-era church at Deane was “in so Dangerous a state of Ruin as to be unsafe for the congregation.” So the patron, Wither Bramston of Oakley Hall, got approval from the Bishop of Winchester to rebuild it at his own cost, about £8000. It was consecrated two years later.

All Saints at Deane is considered “one of the most complete and successful” 19^th century Gothic churches (Tanner). It is also renowned for its eight bells, which are rung regularly, and an 1820 Gothic chancel screen. The church today is a grade II listed building, but is not the same as the medieval church building where George and James Austen ministered. Some monuments from their time are on the walls of the current church, however.

The church could seat 146 people in 1851. On Census Sunday, 94 parishioners attended in the morning and 124 in the evening. Leading up to World War I, the rector offered daily Communion in the church, and in 1917, he reported twenty people in the choir for Evensong. However, the population dropped, and in 2011, Deane included only an estimated 55 inhabitants, with an average age of over 60.

Now there are about 25 houses in the village, and about 8-10 people attend Sunday morning services twice a month. For a larger service, like the Christmas carol service, they may have about 40 attendees. Weddings are held there occasionally, and special services like pet blessings. All Saints is part of the United Benefice of North Waltham, Steventon, Ashe, and Deane.

Our guide to the church, Sue Hebeler, said she loves this church since it is her local church and her husband is buried there. She appreciates the traditional, old-fashioned services. If you’re in the vicinity, you may also enjoy a visit to this lovely, peaceful church.

All images in this post ©Brenda S. Cox, 2024.

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

Posts on Other Austen Family Churches

Steventon

Chawton

Hamstall Ridware and Austen’s First Cousin, Edward Cooper

Adlestrop and the Leigh Family

Stoneleigh Abbey Chapel and Mansfield Park

Great Bookham and Austen’s Godfather, Rev. Samuel Cooke

Ashe and the Lefroy Family

Sources and Further Reference

Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen : A Family Record. Much of Le Faye’s information about Deane is also online at Deane

Terry Townsend, Jane Austen’s Hampshire, has a helpful chapter on Deane.

Richard Tanner, Ashe & Deane, explores the area.

Trailblazing Women of the Georgian Era by Mike Rendell includes a fascinating chapter on Eleanor Coade—manufacturer of artificial stone.

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