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.
Last month, we explored the route Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner took on their journey to Derbyshire through Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenilworth, and Birmingham. This month, we begin our exploration of their time in Derbyshire, so that we might catch a glimpse of what travelers during Austen’s time would have seen when visiting there.
Austen first gives the details of their journey to Derbyshire:
It is not the object of this work to give a description of Derbyshire, nor of any of the remarkable places through which their route thither lay—Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenilworth, Birmingham, etc., are sufficiently known. A small part of Derbyshire is all the present concern.
Elizabeth Bennet (Jennifer Ehle) and Mrs. Gardiner (Joanna David), Pride and Prejudice (1995).
Elizabeth Bennet’s fictional visit to Derbyshire was also quite common during Austen’s lifetime. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Grand Tour of Europe wasn’t possible, so many genteel English travelers explored England more fully, traveling to seaside resorts and into Wales, the Lake District, and Derbyshire.
Guidebooks circulated widely as well in genteel circles, with engravings of Chatsworth, Dovedale, and Matlock Bath appearing in fashionable drawing rooms. Finally, Austen may have also heard about these destinations from friends or acquaintances who had traveled there.
Gilpin, William. Observations on Several Parts of England, Particularly the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, Made in the Year 1772. Vol. 2. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1808. First published 1786. p. 176.
Derbyshire:
While in Derbyshire, this is what Austen tells us they were to see and why it was of such interest to Mrs. Gardiner:
. . .they were obliged to give up the Lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour; and, according to the present plan, were to go no farther northward than Derbyshire. In that county there was enough to be seen to occupy the chief of their three weeks; and to Mrs. Gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attraction. The town where she had formerly passed some years of her life, and where they were now to spend a few days, was probably as great an object of her curiosity as all the celebrated beauties of Matlock, Chatsworth, Dovedale, or the Peak.
Below is a detailed map of Derbyshire from 1627 that can help us to visualize the location of each site:
Pieter van den Keere, Map of Derbyshire, 1627. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
We know that Elizabeth did, in fact, visit Matlock and Dovedale because she and Mr. Darcy talk at length about where she has traveled and what she has seen:
He then asked her to walk into the house—but she declared herself not tired, and they stood together on the lawn. At such a time much might have been said, and silence was very awkward. She wanted to talk, but there seemed an embargo on every subject. At last she recollected that she had been travelling, and they talked of Matlock and Dovedale with great perseverance. Yet time and her aunt moved slowly—and her patience and her ideas were nearly worn out before the tête-à-tête was over.
With their conversation in mind, let us explore Matlock and Dovedale to find out what Elizabeth might have discussed with Mr. Darcy on their walk.
Elizabeth (Jennifer Ehle) and Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) walking at Pemberley, Pride and Prejudice (1995).
Matlock
Matlock (and nearby Matlock Bath) are located on the south-east edge of the Peak District alongside the River Derwent. One of the reasons people visited Matlock Bath was for its natural thermal springs, which became popular and fashionable in the late 17th century. Much like visiting Bath to “take the waters,” aristocratic people visited Matlock Bath for the same reason: hoping for the health benefits of the springs.
Austen was likely well aware of the town’s famed thermal waters. When Bennet enters Derbyshire with apprehension about seeing Darcy, she says, “But surely … I may enter his county without impunity and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me.” Austen might have been referring to Matlock Bath’s petrifying well – where the mineral-rich thermal water, turns objects into stone.
Gorman goes on to share what Elizabeth might have seen while visiting the area:
Matlock is also popular with walkers as it lies in a valley of the River Derwent. Pride and Prejudice fans may opt to explore the fittingly named Lovers’ Walks, a series of footpaths along the riverside, or if you’d prefer something more challenging, there are also trails that go up and over the wooded cliffs. But perhaps the most famous tourist attraction is the Heights of Abraham, where you can take a mountain cable car to the top of Masson Hill, a 60-acre hilltop estate with a panoramic view of the surrounding valley and town below.
Though we have no textual proof that Elizabeth and the Gardiners took the waters, we can imagine that they would have certainly enjoyed exploring such a naturally beautiful location.
François Vivares, Matlock in Derbyshire, engraving, 18th century. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Dovedale
Dovedale is considered one of the most romantic landscapes in England. It includes a limestone valley with a dramatic ravine carved by the River Dove. Craggy cliffs rise up dramatically above the water. Many have painted and photographed it over the years, trying to capture its beauty.
This area drew visitors long before the Regency era and throughout Jane Austen’s lifetime–and it still does today. During the time Elizabeth Bennet would have traveled through Derbyshire, Dovedale was a popular destination for tourists, especially given the wild, rugged scenery that was prized during the Romantic era. Artists gathered there to sketch its ravines, woodlands, rock formations, and limestone caves. The river was also famous for its fishing, and Austen and her contemporaries would have been familiar with it because of Izaak Walton’s book, The Compleat Angler (1653).
Today, the National Trust owns the valley, and it has been a National Nature Reserve since 2006, recognized for its rare wildflowers, ash woodlands, and wildlife and fish. There is also a set of famous stepping stones, placed in the 1890s, that create a path across the river.
It’s wonderful to think about Elizabeth Bennet exploring this area, especially given her love of nature and long walks. Surely, the scenery would have inspired and refreshed her soul.
Joseph Wright of Derby, Dovedale by Moonlight, oil on canvas, c. 1784–85. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Dovedale Stepping Stones, Derbyshire, England, photochrome print postcard, c. 1890–1900. Library of Congress. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
More of Elizabeth Bennet’s Travels
Though Elizabeth did not make it to the Lake District, she certainly would have seen an abundance of breathtaking landscapes and rugged wilderness to spur on her imagination. Perhaps she was already falling in love with Derbyshire, long before her visit to Pemberley.
Next month, we’ll explore more of Elizabeth Bennet’s travels. We’ll take a closer look at Chatsworth and Austen’s inspiration for “Pemberley,” followed by the Peak District and Bakewell, a small village that many scholars believe might have been Austen’s inspiration for Lambton.
Until then, let us remember fondly Elizabeth’s famous words, “What are men to rocks and mountains?”
“We dined at Goodnestone, and in the evening danced two country dances and the Boulangeries. I opened the ball with Edward Bridges . . . We supped there, and walked home at night under the shade of two umbrellas.”—Jsane Austen, Sept. 5, 1796.
More than thirty times in her letters, Jane Austen mentions Goodnestone (pronounced “GOOD-nuh-stun” or “gunston.”) The original name was Godwynestone, after the Anglo-Saxon family who lived in the area from before the Norman Conquest until the reign of King Henry VIII. The founder of the family, Earl Godwyn (or Godwin), was the father of King Harold II, killed in the Norman Conquest.
The estates of the area passed through a few other families. They were eventually acquired by Brook Bridges, Esq. in the early 1700s. He built Goodnestone Park. His son became a baronet, like Sir Thomas Bertram and Sir Walter Elliot in Austen’s novels. He passed that title down to his descendants, a Brook Bridges in each generation.
Jane Austen visited Goodnestone several times, and often refers to the comings and goings of her friends and relations there. What was her connection to this place?
Goodnestone Park and Farm and Rowlings
Last month on this site we “visited” Godmersham, home of the Knight family who adopted Jane Austen’s brother Edward. Edward Austen married Elizabeth Bridges, daughter of Sir Brook William Bridges, owner of the nearby estate of Goodnestone. When Edward and Elizabeth were first married, they lived at Rowling, about a mile from Goodnestone. Their first four children were born there. Jane Austen visited them there, socializing with Elizabeth’s family at Goodnestone Park. (See “A Walk in Kent” for photos of Rowling.)
Goodnestone Park, where Austen danced with Edward Bridges. Photo by Nick Smith / Goodnestone House, 2007, CC BY-SA 2.0
Goodnestone Park in the 1770s Public domain via wikimedia
“The Mrs. Finches were afraid you would find Goodnestone very dull; I wished when I heard them say so that they could have heard Mr. E. Bridges’ solicitude on the subject, and have known all the amusements that were planned to prevent it.”—Aug. 24, 1805, from Jane Austen at Godmersham Park to Cassandra Austen at Goodnestone Farm, Wingham
Edward and his wife inherited Godmersham and moved there at the end of 1797. Jane and Cassandra continued to visit other Bridges family members at Goodnestone Farm. Her nephew described Goodnestone Farm as “a comfortable house very near the great house, which has generally been inhabited as a dower house or by some younger member of the Bridges family, to whom it belongs.”
Jane’s friend Harriot (or Harriot-Mary), one of her sister-in-law Elizabeth’s younger sisters, insisted Jane stay longer on a visit in 1805. In the following year, Harriot married Rev. George Moore. He was the son of an archbishop and held four church livings. One of Elizabeth’s younger brothers, Rev. Brook-Edward, was perpetual curate of Goodnestone from 1802-9, as well as holding five other church livings at various times. His older brother, Rev. Brook-Henry, held two church livings. (They did like hyphenated names.) The Bridges family apparently had “considerable patronage in the church,” like the Darcys of Pemberley, or at least they had close connections with families who had patronage (the right to assign church livings).
The dower house at Goodnestone, where Jane Austen stayed on later visits to the Bridges family.
Holy Cross Goodnestone church
On her visits, Austen must have attended the local church, Holy Cross Goodnestone. This is now considered an “Austen Family Church,” like others we have visited in this series. Jane’s brother Edward married his wife Elizabeth in this church in 1791.
Holy Cross Goodnestone church
Faced flints (chipped or “knapped” to make them flat) cover the south wall of the Goodnestone church, giving it a unique appearance.
View of the Goodnestone church tower from one of the many beautiful gardens. Once used as a beaon tower and fortress, it is still a bell tower, with four bells, one of which was made in 1628. The church now has six “Ringers” who ring the bells on special occasions. A single bell is rung for church services. Photo by Adam Hincks, CC BY-SA 2.0
On one face of the Goodnestone church tower, a sundial, shown here, was inscribed “Every hour shortens life,” though the markings are very worn now. On another face is a Victorian clock, which has to be manually wound every eight days. Detail of photo by Adam Hincks, CC BY-SA 2.0
Holy Cross Goodnestone church interior
The interior of the church was remodeled in the Gothic Revival style in 1841, so it looks different now than it did in Austen’s time.
An inscription over this arch commemorates Sir Brook William Bridges (Edward Austen’s father-in-law) who rebuilt the nave and chancel of the church in 1841.
Monuments on the church walls, and flagstones on the floor, still commemorate influential families. This is a monument to Sir Edward Engeham, who purchased the estate from the de Godwynstones, and his family. He died in 1636, age 65, a year after his wife’s death at age 52.
In Austen’s time, the nicer pews would have been rented or owned by wealthy families. These Goodnestone church pews are Victorian, and the organ dates from 1904, restored and augmented in 2014.
The Goodnestone organ also has wooden pipes, for the pedals.
Jane Austen may well have read these engravings on the wall, similar to those in many English country churches. The left side displays the Lord’s Prayer, the right side lists the Ten Commandments.
“We have walked to Rowling on each of the two last days after dinner, and very great was my pleasure in going over the house and grounds. We have also found time to visit all the principal walks of this place, except the walk round the top of the park, which we shall accomplish probably to-day.”—Jane Austen at Goodnestone Farm writing to Cassandra at Godmersham, August 30, 1805.
Church and Community
A congregation of about twenty people gather for Sunday services at the church (fewer when their excellent choir is not singing). But they may have 100 to 120 participants at services for holidays and weddings.
Like many country churches, the Goodnestone church is also used for various community services. Concerts are held there regularly, and the choir is excellent. They have sung Evensong in cathedrals as well. Schoolchildren come to the church once a week from the Church of England primary school in the village. The church even serves as a post office, open two mornings a week.
News article about the post office being opened in the Goodnestone church.
Goodnestone is part of the Canonry Benefice, which includes seven churches in East Kent. The vicar and other clergy for the benefice serve all the churches, at services alternating between the churches. For example, during the upcoming Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, fifteen church services will be held at the various churches (at least one per day). Three of them will be at Holy Cross, Goodnestone.
The church is well worth seeing if you visit the area. It is generally open during daylight hours. You can contact the church if you have questions. Jane Austen enjoyed the gardens and walks in the area, and you can also walk through the lovely gardens and the “Serpentine Walk.” See Visitor Information. Goodnestone Park is now used as a wedding venue.
Goodnestone Park Grade II* listing (Grade II* means a “particularly important building of more than special interest.” Listed buildings require special permissions before any significant changes can be made.)
This is the time of year when I start to dream of traveling to England or other beautiful places over the summer. I know just how Elizabeth Bennet felt when looking forward to her trip with her Uncle and Aunt Gardiner.
What a delightful thought! Anticipation is half the joy of any exciting pursuit. Her words could not be more true:
Her tour to the Lakes was now the object of her happiest thoughts: it was her best consolation for all the uncomfortable hours which the discontentedness of her mother and Kitty made inevitable; and could she have included Jane in the scheme, every part of it would have been perfect.
“But it is fortunate,” thought she, “that I have something to wish for. Were the whole arrangement complete, my disappointment would be certain. But here, by carrying with me one ceaseless source of regret in my sister’s absence, I may reasonably hope to have all my expectations of pleasure realized. A scheme of which every part promises delight can never be successful; and general disappointment is only warded off by the defence of some little peculiar vexation.”
A view of the Lake District: Parker, John. Ullswater from Above Patterdale. 1825. Wikimedia Commons.
Travel Plans
Like many of us who have had our plans amended, Elizabeth has high expectations of all they might see on their trip, but eventually she finds contentment in the final plans to visit Derbyshire and the Peak District but not venture to the Lakes:
…they were obliged to give up the Lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour; and, according to the present plan, were to go no farther northward than Derbyshire. In that county there was enough to be seen to occupy the chief of their three weeks; and to Mrs. Gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attraction. The town where she had formerly passed some years of her life, and where they were now to spend a few days, was probably as great an object of her curiosity as all the celebrated beauties of Matlock, Chatsworth, Dovedale, or the Peak.
Most of us can relate to Elizabeth’s feelings on the topic:
Elizabeth was excessively disappointed: she had set her heart on seeing the Lakes; and still thought there might have been time enough. But it was her business to be satisfied—and certainly her temper to be happy; and all was soon right again.
Wright of Derby, Joseph. Dovedale by Moonlight. c.1784–1785, oil on canvas. Wikimedia Commons.
Travel Route
Her trip was revised, but there was still much for her to see. I’ve always been intrigued by this paragraph that tells us about the route they took on their way to Derbyshire, for there would have been many interesting sights along the way:
It is not the object of this work to give a description of Derbyshire, nor of any of the remarkable places through which their route thither lay—Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenilworth, Birmingham, etc., are sufficiently known. A small part of Derbyshire is all the present concern.
If Elizabeth and the Gardiners stopped along the way, what might these locations have looked like at the time? Most scholars agree that this trip would have taken several days, which means they would have had to change horses several times and stop for food and rest and lodging. It’s fun to imagine what all they saw and where they stopped, though we know they would have wanted as much time as possible in Derbyshire.
For anyone curious about how far and how fast people could travel in Jane Austen’s England, I highly recommend Wade H. Mann’s article, “Distance and Time in Regency England” on Quills & Quartos. It breaks down the realities of journeying by carriage, horseback, and foot, giving a clear sense of the distances and travel times that shaped the world Austen’s characters inhabited.
Pollard, James. London to Brighton Stage Coach. c. 1822, coloured aquatint, engraved by Matthew Dubourg (attributed), Wikimedia Commons.
Oxford
Austen’s contemporary readers would have recognized Oxford as a center of learning and culture. High Street and Cornmarket Street bustled with shops, inns, and markets. The architecture would have also been of interest. There are many gardens and parks to explore and walk, museums and libraries, and several religious sites. There would have been much for Elizabeth and the Gardiners to experience along the way.
High Street, Oxford, J. M. W. Turner, Wikipedia, 1810.
Blenheim
Blenheim Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough (which would later become the birthplace of Winston Churchill), was also on the route. As we see later when Elizabeth and the Gardiners visit Pemberley, by the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many famous estates in England had become informal tourist attractions. Wealthy travelers, and even respectable middle-class visitors, often toured grand houses while traveling through the countryside.
Morris, F. O. Blenheim Palace. 1880. Wikimedia Commons.
Warwick
Today, Warwick is a lovely little village, and the castle is one of my favorite sites to visit. During Austen’s time, Warwick Castle would have boasted recent new landscaping by Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1716–1783). Warwick Castle’s grounds were redesigned in the 18th century, and Brown’s landscapes created sweeping lawns, gentle vistas, and picturesque trees. Visitors like Elizabeth Bennet might have enjoyed exploring the grounds.
Canaletto. Warwick Castle, the East Front from the Courtyard. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Wikimedia Commons.
Kenilworth
Kenilworth Castle, already a famous historic ruin during the Regency Era, offered visitors sweeping views, crumbling walls, and picturesque gardens. Tourists like Elizabeth Bennet might have strolled the grounds and enjoyed the romantic, dramatic scenery that made it a highlight of Warwickshire travel.
Turner, Joseph Mallord William. Kenilworth Castle. c. 1830, watercolour, bodycolour, and graphite on paper. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Wikimedia Commons.
Finally, in Austen’s day, Birmingham was a bustling market and industrial town rather than a landscaped estate. Travelers might stop for lodging, shopping, or supplies, experiencing the commerce of an emerging urban center instead of picturesque grounds or aristocratic architecture.
Derbyshire
Once they arrive in Derbyshire, we know whom Elizabeth and the Gardiners visit and what they see. Unlike Elizabeth Bennet, most of us will never enjoy living at such a glorious estate as Pemberley. But we can visit many of the real, historic sites. And if we’re very lucky, perhaps we might be invited to visit a historic estate or home one day, such as my visit to Sherbourne Park.
Most of all, Elizabeth’s travels remind us that the journey is often just as important and interesting as the destination. Unless, of course, Mr. Darcy is waiting at one of those destinations.
Tune in for more about Elizabeth’s travels in the coming months!
A few days ago we “visited” Godmersham, the estate of Jane Austen’s brother in Kent. Today we’ll continue that visit with the church she attended while she was there. Like so many English churches, it is named after a Christian saint.
St. Lawrence the Martyr: Who Was He?
More than 200 churches in England are named after St. Lawrence. The church at Godmersham, where Jane Austen often visited her brother Edward, is one of them, as is the church at Alton, closest town to Austen’s village of Chawton.
St. Lawrence the Martyr, parish church of Godmersham, which Jane Austen often attended.
The original St. Lawrence’s story is inspiring but rather grisly. He was a deacon in charge of the treasures of the church, and of distributing alms to the poor. When the Roman Emperor Valerian demanded that Christians sacrifice to the Roman gods or else be killed, they refused. Pope Sixtus II and his deacons were beheaded. Lawrence was told to hand over the church’s treasures. Instead of bringing gold, he brought in many of the poor and said they were the church’s treasure.
Valerian supposedly commanded that Lawrence be roasted on a gridiron, and Lawrence even made a joke as he was dying. (Some think he was actually beheaded and the gridiron is a transcription error; scroll down at this link.) He became the patron saint of comedians and poor people as well as those who work with open fires, such as bakers, and those who fear fires, such as librarians.
And, guess what else? He’s apparently the patron saint of barbecues. On August 10, St. Lawrence’s Day in the church calendar, many churches like this one celebrate by having a community-wide barbecue. Okay, that’s the grisly part. Moving on . . .
Godmersham Church and Jane Austen’s Family
Godmersham church plaque mentioning Jane Austen
Memorial to Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen Knight “of Godmersham Park in this parish, and of Chawton House in the country of Southampton,” and his wife Elizabeth. It tells about Edward’s name change and inheritance. Edward is described, “Living peaceably in his habitation, he was honored in his generation, a merciful man whose righteousness shall not be forgotten.” (This combines verses from Ecclesiasticus 44:6, 7, 10; Ecclesiasticus is a book of the Apocrypha.)
Memorial in the Godmersham church to the Knights that Edward inherited from, cousins of the Austens. The broken pillar symbolizes the end of the Brodnax family they were descended from. Thomas Brodnax, who built Godmersham Park (which was originally called Ford Place) in 1732, changed his name to May and then to Knight in order to inherit fortunes from distant relatives. His son, also named Thomas Knight, adopted Edward Austen as his heir.
Jane Austen, in a total of ten months staying at Godmersham, must have attended this church at least forty times. More likely eighty times, if they had morning and evening Sunday services as many churches did at the time. So she would have known it well.
In her time, the chuch had a triple-decker pulpit: a high wooden pulpit with a sounding board over it (a wooden structure reflecting the sound forward), from which the vicar would preach. Below that was the vicar’s “prayer desk,” from which he would lead the service, reading prayers and Scriptures. And below that, the “parish clerk’s pew,” from which the church clerk would lead congregational responses. (These are the three “decks” of the pulpit.) (See another example here.)
Across the church from this pulpit were two huge “box pews” for the major families of the parish. These were on top of burial vaults, so Austen would have walked up five steps and through an arched doorway to get to the Knight family’s “pew,” actually a separate room which enabled them to see over everyone’s heads to the top pulpit (See pages 70 and 73–pp. 26 and 29 of the pdf file– of The Parish Church of St Laurence). Quite a different experience than her tiny churches at Steventon and Chawton, where only the squire of the area and his family would have a box pew, on a much smaller scale.
Box Pew at Steventon Church, for the squire of the area and his family. The box pews at Godmersham were much larger and more ornate, but were demolished in the 1860s.
While the Godmersham church’s triple decker pulpit is gone, like most of this era, you can still see a triple-decker pulpit at the John Wesley’s New Room Chapel in Bristol. The congregation heard preaching from the top level, Scripture reading and prayers from the middle level, and responses led by the parish clerk from the lower table.
Like so many of the Austen-era churches, the Godmersham church was remodeled and expanded in the 1860s. According to the “Souvenir Guide” for the church, at that time “The Georgian furnishings (triple-decker pulpit, parlour pews, western gallery and box pews) were swept away and the entire building restored and refurbished.”
Interior of Godmersham church, much changed from Jane Austen’s time
This chapel under the tower of the Godmersham church was built in the twelfth century. Next to it hang ropes for ringing the bells in the tower. The eagle lectern, a stand for reading the Bible, is typical of English churches.
Church Bell-ringing is a challenging skill to learn. Five bells in the Godmersham church tower were cast in 1687, while a sixth was added in 1999.
Vicars
The Godmersham church had vicars over the centuries. English churches traditionally either have rectors, who received all the tithes of the parish, or vicars, who received only part of the tithes. For a church with a vicar, a nominal rector elsewhere received the main tithes. The only vicar in Austen’s novels is Mr. Elton, who thus received a lower income and needed to marry money. (Tithes are ten percent of the income of the people of the parish; in Austen’s time, it was legally required that this be paid to the parish priest, in either cash or in agricultural produce. The system and these definitions have changed, of course, in modern times.)
The Vicars of Godmersham Church
The “rector” of the Godmersham church, who received most of the tithe money, was the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, meaning the leaders of the Cathedral: the dean, canons, and prebendaries. Much of the parish income went to them, but some went to the vicar, who performed the daily responsibilities of the church and preached and led services. In Austen’s time, Francis Whitfield was vicar (1778-1811), then Joseph Godfrey Sherer (1811-1823). Jane visited Mrs. Sherer, and said in a letter that she liked Mr. Sherer very much (Sept. 23, 1813). She wrote to her brother Frank (Sept. 25, 1813):
“Mr. Sherer is quite a new Mr. Sherer to me; I heard him for the first time last Sunday, and he gave us an excellent Sermon—a little too eager sometimes in his delivery, but that is to me a better extreme than the want of animation, especially when it evidently comes from the heart, as in him. The Clerk is as much like you [Frank] as ever, I am always glad to see him on that account.”
Here we get a personal view of what Jane Austen liked in sermons: not too much emotion, but enough to show that the preacher is speaking from his heart. It reminds me of a section in her unfinished novel The Watsons, where Emma’s father, a clergyman, commends the sermon of the local minister (Emma’s love interest). Sermons were generally “read”:
“He [Mr. Howard] reads extremely well, with great propriety, and in a very impressive manner, and at the same time without any theatrical grimace or violence. I own I do not like much action in the pulpit; I do not like the studied air and artificial inflexions of voice which your very popular and most admired preachers generally have. A simple delivery is much better calculated to inspire devotion, and shows a much better taste. Mr. Howard read like a scholar and a gentleman.”
Mr. Sherer would have lived in this vicarage (also called a parsonage) close to the church. It is possible that Mr. Collins’s rectory is partially based on this building. It was enlarged in the 19th century.
Austen continues in the same letter,
“But the Sherers are going away. He has a bad Curate at Westwell, whom he can eject only by residing there himself. He goes nominally for three years, and a Mr. Paget is to have the Curacy of Godmersham—a married man, with a very musical wife, which I hope may make her a desirable acquaintance to Fanny.”
A curate was an assistant or substitute clergyman, generally paid a low salary. Mr. Sherer will hold the office of vicar of Godmersham for life, unless he resigns it. But he can hire a curate to take his place while he resides in another parish for which he is presumably also rector or vicar.
Austen mentions several more visits by the Sherers until on Nov. 7 she says they are actually gone, although Mr. Paget has not yet come. As we often see in Austen’s novels, the clergyman was a central person in a country community.
Like so many English churches today, the Godmersham church is now combined with several other churches in the area, and they take turns hosting services. Our guide estimated that there are about three hundred people in the parish, and only 15 or 20 show up for regular Sunday services. However, larger crowds show up for events such as weddings, funerals, baptisms, and church holy days. The church is blessed to have funding from wealthy former owners of Godmersham Park who left money for the church.
Our guide said he loves the peace and quiet of the church area, and enjoys the changes in the seasons, seeing the snowdrops, the daffodils, and the holly berries. The Pilgrim’s Way from Winchester to Canterbury brings modern-day pilgrims down a path next to the church, where they can enjoy it also.
Detailed history of the Godmersham church (pp. 66-77, “The Church in Jane Austen’s Time” includes sketches of the church interior as Austen knew it. Note the huge box pews on p. 73. Austen would have sat in one of these when she was visiting her Knight relatives.)
The reference to Mr. Sherer’s church at Westwell may refer to this church in Kent.
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.
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The Obituary of Charlotte Collins by Andrew Capes
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