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Posts Tagged ‘Jane Austen Family Churches’

Bath Abbey and Jane Austen

Posted in Bath, Churches of the Austen family, Jane Austen's World, Religion in Austen's England, tagged on September 28, 2026| 2 Comments »

By Brenda S. Cox

[Catherine Morland] “hastened away with eager steps and a beating heart to pay her visit, explain her conduct, and be forgiven; tripping lightly through the church-yard . . .”–Northanger Abbey, chapter 12

We don’t know for sure whether Jane Austen ever attended a service at Bath Abbey, so it is not listed as an Austen Family Church. However, Jane not only visited Bath several times but also lived there from 1801-1806. She must have at least visited the Abbey and probably attended some services or events there. Like everyone else in Bath, she would have often seen the Abbey from outside.

Bath Abbey towers over central Bath, England. Sculptured angels ascend and descend Jacob’s ladders on each side of the front. (See Genesis chapter 28.) Bishop Oliver King in 1499 dreamed of this image, inspiring him to replace the Norman Cathedral with this Abbey.

Bath Abbey in Austen’s Novels and in History

Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are both partially set in Bath, and Austen mentions Bath in all the other novels, including Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon, as well as her letters. Northanger Abbey mentions “the church-yard” next to the Abbey in Bath, but Austen never mentions Bath Abbey by name.

This area around the church and the pump-room is the Abbey church-yard. Catherine Morland walks through it in Northanger Abbey as tourists do today. (Most churchyards are burial grounds, but not this one. Those buried at the Abbey are under the floor–inside the Abbey, not outside.)

Why does Jane Austen not mention Bath Abbey?

Roger E. Moore, in Jane Austen and the Reformation, suggests Austen omits Bath Abbey on purpose. In earlier times, Bath was a spiritual center. Bath Abbey was the church of a Benedectine monastery and convent, communities of monks and nuns. The Normans built a cathedral on the site. (Bath Abbey is no longer a cathedral, but is under the cathedral at Wells.) When King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the Abbey was left to fall into ruin. Under Queen Elizabeth I, the Abbey was rebuilt, funded by donations from around the country. It was a parish church by Austen’s time, as it still is today.

Bath Abbey’s Interior, looking toward the altar. The fan vaulted ceiling was designed in the 1500s by King Henry VII’s master masons, intended to draw our attention up toward God.

However, by Jane Austen’s time, Bath had become a center for entertainment and physical healing rather than spiritual healing. Moore suggests that Austen’s choosing not to mention Bath Abbey is a criticism of visitors ignoring the city’s spiritual heritage.

“A Service at Bath Abbey,” 1788, Samuel Grimm, public domain. Inside the Abbey, as Austen would have seen it. People would stand or kneel during the service. (See this article for a clearer image.)

Bath Abbey in Austen’s Time

Bath Abbey was a fashionable place to be buried. This caused a problem in eighteenth century Bath. The Abbey stank! The floor was opened so often, to inter new corpses while old ones were still decaying, that the “confined Air” was “perceptibly disagreeable at first entering the Church.” Next to a ventilator in the roof there was always “a Stench scarce to be imagined” (New Prose Bath Guide, 1778, quoted in Jane Austen’s Bath Abbey). (Underground burials in the Abbey stopped in 1844, when a new external cemetery was opened.)

Other accounts complain of the coldness of the church, inconvenient service times, expensive pew rates, and even spiders. However, it was still the most popular place for the rich and titled to be seen on Sunday mornings. The sermons were said to be dull, avoiding controversy, offense, or emotion—they didn’t want the “enthusiasm” practiced in the many Dissenter chapels in Bath. The clergy were described as overweight and self-indulgent, like Austen’s Dr. Grant.

Bath Abbey pulpit. Today’s ministers preach much livelier sermons here than the dull, “ear-tickling” sermons preached in Austen’s day. In 1836, the right to appoint the rector of Bath Abbey (that is, the advowson for Bath Abbey) was bought by the Evangelical Cambridge minister, Charles Simeon. The Simeon Trust still appoints the rector.

Instead of attending services at the Abbey, Jane Austen, like Catherine Morland, probably attended a privately owned chapel in Bath. I explore the possibilities in “Where Did Jane Austen Attend Church and Chapel in Bath?”

Monuments in Bath Abbey

In Northanger Abbey’s parish church, Catherine notices “a very elegant monument to the memory of Mrs. Tilney, which immediately fronted the family pew,” including a “highly strained epitaph, in which every virtue was ascribed to her by the inconsolable husband.” “Monuments” in a church are memorials to people who have passed away. They may include plaques on walls or pillars, flagstones on the floor, and statues or relief carvings. In previous posts, we have seen monuments to Austen’s relatives in other churches, and to Austen herself in Winchester Cathedral.

Bath Abbey includes 1,526 such memorials, more than any other UK church except Westminster Abbey. Many ill people came to Bath for medical treatment, and some died there. Those from wealthy families could afford monuments in the impressive Abbey. It cost ten pounds in 1766 to be buried at the Abbey, a substantial amount. Poor people were buried in much cheaper areas across the river from Bath.

In Jane Austen’s Bath Abbey, Jackie Herring explores some monuments in the Abbey to people connected with the Austens. Here are a few:

Bath Abbey displays three memorials to William Bowen M.D. This apothecary treated Jane Austen’s parents while they lived in Bath. Mrs. Austen, after recovering from an illness, wrote a poem to Death, who had been trying to “seize” her. She attributes her recovery “To the prayers of my Husband, whose love I possess, To the care of my Daughters, whom Heaven will bless; To the skill & attention of BOWEN.” Sadly, Bowen was not able to cure George Austen in his final illness.

 

Bath Abbey memorial to William Meyler, a bookseller in Bath. He published a local newspaper, perhaps the one Austen refers to in Persuasion.

 

Bath Abbey memorial to Samuel Nibbs and his mother Barbara Nibbs. Barbara’s husband, James Langford Nibbs, was a close friend of George Austen’s. Austen performed their wedding ceremony and was a trustee of their marriage settlement, meaning he would make sure Barbara and her children were taken care of if James died. This has raised questions because Nibbs owned an Antigua plantation worked by enslaved people. (See pp. 33ff in Jane Austen Society Report 2021 for details.) The Nibbs family may have been a model for the Bertrams in Mansfield Park.

 

In a letter of Oct. 24, 1808, Jane Austen wrote, “I must notice a wedding in the Salisbury paper, which has amused me very much, Dr. Phillot [rector of Bath] to Lady Frances St. Lawrence. She wanted to have a husband I suppose, once in her life, and he a Lady Frances.” That couple is memorialized here.

 

This Bath physician, Dr. Parry, is mentioned in a series of Austen’s letters, 1813-14, as treating Lady Fanny Bridges, Edward Austen Knight’s mother-in-law, with apparent success.

 

Patronage was important for advancement in the Navy, as William Price finds in Mansfield Park. Admiral Gambier, memorialized on the floor of the main aisle, was a friend of the Austens and a patron to Jane’s brother Frank Austen. Admiral Gambier was an Evangelical Christian, and Frank was known as “the officer who knelt in church,” showing his serious devotion to God. Other naval men connected to the Austen brothers are also memorialized in the Abbey.

 

If you explore the Abbey, you will find many more intriguing monuments (details in the Abbey’s database online). These people all lived during or before Austen’s lifetime:

  • Admiral Arthur Phillip, founder and first governor of Australia
  • William Bingham, U.S. Senator (His memorial is flanked by two large angels and the medallion below him shows a fist clenching three arrows.)
  • Lady Jane Waller, whose husband fought in the English Civil War, is memorialized with reclining statues of her, her husband, and a baby.
  • Richard Nash, arbiter of Bath fashion; his memorial is in Latin.
  • John Palmer, originator of the mail coach system and post office comptroller in Bath
  • William Siddons, husband of actress Sarah Siddons, with a very simple plaque—she eclipsed him.
  • a Lady Wentworth
  • Richard Woodhouse, innkeeper of the White Hart, an inn mentioned in Emma and Persuasion
  • Mary Field, wife of the church organist
  • Venanzio Rauzzini, musician and conductor, memorialized by his students. Rauzzini conducted performances of Handel’s Messiah and other classics at Bath Abbey.
  • Jane Gomm and Martha Goldsworthy, who taught the royal princesses, daughters of George III
  • Thomas Haweis, rector, co-founder of the modern missions movement, and chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon (Methodist leader whose Bath chapel is now a museum) There is also a memorial to Haweis’s great-great granddaughter, Lance-Corporal Donnett Mary Paynter, distinguished for “gallant services in the field” as a first aid nurse in WW I.
  • John Sibthorp, botanist and Oxford professor
  • One intriguing memorial reads: “Inscribed to the Memory of Winthrop Baldwin, Esqr., of the Royal Crescent, a Gentleman of considerable Abilities, valuable Information, and most extensive charity, who died on the 7th of August, 1817, in the 92nd year of his age.” (Esquire means he was an untitled gentleman.) Abilities, information, and charity—I wonder what he accomplished. He also had a wife and two children.

Organ pipes and choir screen at Bath Abbey. The current organ has over 4,000 pipes.

A few interesting memorials a little later than Jane:

  • Isaac Pitman, who invented shorthand (1813-1897)
  • James Watson M.D. of the Bengal Medical Service, 1792-1878 (shades of Sherlock Holmes? Okay, Sherlock’s Dr. Watson is named John, but he was a medical doctor with the British army in India and Afghanistan. So, pretty close! The Holmes books were written in 1887 and following.)
  • Edwin Arthur Cook, archdeacon of Bath (assisting the bishop), rector of Bath Abbey 1947-1960, missionary to China. “Under his inspired leadership, this abbey church was restored.”

Eagle lectern at Bath Abbey, where the Bible is read during services. A sign says: “The lectern is made of brass in the shape of an eagle. The eagle was traditionally believed to fly higher, and see further, than other birds, and so it symbolizes the clear vision given by the Bible.”

Bath Abbey Today

Bath Abbey currently offers five Sunday services and various weekday services, as well as concerts and other events. Some services are offered online as well. The Abbey sometimes hosts events for the Jane Austen Festival in the fall. Its slogan is “Living and Telling the Good News of Jesus with the City of Bath and its Visitors.”

Several wonderful choirs sing at the Abbey’s services.  The Jane Austen Festival generally includes a Regency-style Sung Eucharist—this is a Communion service in which parts of the service are sung by the choir and/or the congregation. When I attended in 2025, the Abbey was filled with people in Regency dress, so many that some had to be turned away at the door. So go early if you want to be part of this amazing experience, similar to what Austen herself may have experienced on Sunday mornings in Bath. The service even included some of Jane Austen’s own prayers. Any Anglican Book of Common Prayer service, though, will be similar to Austen’s weekly worship experiences.

Bath Abbey between services

You can visit Bath Abbey and the museum (Discovery Centre, including history of the Abbey and special exhibits, on the lower floor) any day of the week and sometimes take tours. However, the Abbey is a working church and may be closed to visitors during services, weddings, etc., so check the Bath Abbey website before planning a visit.

History and art in Bath Abbey’s Gethsemane Chapel, which memorializes victims of war and persecution.

Bath Abbey is a beautiful building, full of history, art, and music. It is a peaceful place to meditate and worship. Next time you are in Bath, enjoy a visit to Bath Abbey.

Bath Abbey at sunset

Sources

Jane Austen’s Bath Abbey, by Jackie Herring (This lovely little book is available at Bath Abbey’s wonderful bookshop, at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, and online from Jane Austen’s Regency World.)

Bath Abbey: A History, by Kenneth Hylson-Smith

The Bath Messiah, by Andrew Clarke

Jane Austen and the Reformation, by Roger E. Moore

Bath Abbey Welcome booklet

 

All photos in this post ©Brenda S. Cox, 2026. Please ask for permission to use them.

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.

 

If you have been enjoying this series on Jane Austen Family Churches and would like to contribute to the needs of those churches, keeping them viable and helping them better preserve and present Austen’s legacy, please go to JASNA’s Donate to Austen-Related Institutions. Thanks!

 

Posts on Jane Austen Family Churches and Churches Mentioned in Austen’s Novels

Adlestrop and the Leigh Family

Ashe and the Lefroy Family

Chawton

Deane

Godmersham

Goodnestone

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

Hamstall Ridware and Austen’s First Cousin, Edward Cooper

Horsmonden

St. Paul’s Covent Garden

St. Swithin’s, Walcot and other churches in Northanger Abbey

Steventon

Stoneleigh Abbey Chapel and Mansfield Park

Tonbridge: Home Parish of Jane Austen’s Father

Winchester Cathedral

St. Andrew’s Colyton, Devon (future JAW post)

St. Peter’s Hurstbourne Tarrant (the Lloyds’ church; future JAW post)

Garrison Chapel

London Churches mentioned in Austen’s Novels

St. George’s, Hanover Square

JASNA Austen Family Churches

 

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St. Margaret’s, Horsmonden: Church of Jane’s Austen Ancestors

Posted in Anglican Church, Architecture, Churches of the Austen family, Jane Austen's religion, Jane Austen's World, Religion in Austen's England, tagged on April 29, 2026| 2 Comments »

By Brenda S. Cox

 

“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.

 

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.

All photos in this post ©Brenda S. Cox, 2026

 

Sources

St. Margaret’s history

St. Margaret’s Church Horsmonden, by Anthony Crook, 1967, 3rd ed. 1995

St. Margaret’s website 

 

Other Austen Family Churches

Steventon

Chawton

Deane

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

St. Paul’s Covent Garden (with links to other churches mentioned in Austen’s writings)

St. Swithin’s Walcot (Bath)

Godmersham

Goodnestone

 

More Austen family churches, external posts (will be added to JAW later):

Winchester Cathedral and Jane Austen 

St. Peter and St. Paul, Tonbridge 

St. Andrew’s Colyton, Devon 

St. Peter’s Hurstbourne Tarrant (the Lloyds’ church) 

JASNA Austen family churches 

 

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Jane Austen’s Rich(er) Leigh Family Connections at Adlestrop and Stoneleigh Abbey (Jane Austen’s Family Churches)

Posted in Churches of the Austen family, History, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's World, tagged , , , , on November 26, 2023| 1 Comment »

By Brenda S. Cox

“Your letter to Adlestrop may perhaps bring you information from the spot . . .”–Jane Austen writing to her sister Cassandra about a relative in Adlestrop they loved, Elizabeth Leigh, who was very ill. Jan. 10, 1809

I’ve just finished a fascinating little book, Jane Austen & Adlestrop: Her Other Family, by Victoria Huxley. Huxley tells the stories of Austen’s Leigh relatives alongside frequent quotes from Austen’s works as well as other contemporary sources. I highly recommend this book, but I’ll share some highlights.

Members of the JASNA Summer Tour were entertained by church members at Adlestrop. Author Victoria Huxley sells her book to me, Brenda Cox. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

We know Jane Austen didn’t take her characters or situations directly from life. And yet, for every author, the experiences we have and hear about, and the people we know and know of, are all grist for the mill. They come together in new shapes and forms as we write. Jane Austen was close to her Leigh relatives, so it’s not surprising their lives fed into her novels in various ways.

The Leigh Family

Jane’s mother Cassandra Leigh Austen was from an old family descended from a Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Leigh (1498-1571). During Sir Thomas’s lifetime, King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, making much land available for purchase. Sir Thomas invested widely. When he died, he owned extensive lands in four counties plus London.

His eldest son, Rowland, inherited Adlestrop and the lands around it in Gloucestershire (north of Oxford). His second son, Thomas, inherited Stoneleigh, Hamstall Ridware, and other estates in Staffordshire (north of Gloucestershire). The Adlestrop line remained country squires, while the Stoneleigh line gained a peerage by supporting Charles I in the English Civil War. They became far wealthier than the Adlestrop Leighs. By Jane Austen’s time, the Stoneleigh estate was worth around £17,000 a year, more than the income of wealthy Mr. Rushworth (£13,000) or Mr. Darcy (£10,000)!

Jane Austen must have attended the lovely old church at Adlestrop on her three visits to her mother’s cousin, Rev. Thomas Leigh, who was rector there. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

I won’t inflict the whole family tree on you, as they repeated the same names over and over. Some of their favorite names were Thomas, Theophilus, James, Cassandra, and Mary. Cassandra Leigh Austen’s father was Rev. Thomas Leigh (1696-1764), and her mother’s maiden name was Jane Walker. Cassandra Leigh also had a sister named Jane, a sister-in-law named Jane, and, our favorite, a daughter named Jane (plus a daughter named Cassandra, and two first cousins named Cassandra). Jane Walker brought the Perrot family’s wealth into the family. [In the following, whenever I say “Cassandra Leigh” or “Cassandra Leigh Austen,” I mean our Jane Austen’s mother, not her sister.]

The chancel of the Adlestrop church (area around the altar). Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Adlestrop, Jane Austen, and the Clergy

Adlestrop is now best known for a poem written in 1914 by Edward Thomas, who died three years later in World War I. His train stopped there briefly, and the poem describes the natural beauties of the area, the “willows, willow-herb, and grass” and a blackbird singing. Adlestrop is still a small, rural town, as it was in Austen’s time.

The squire of the manor, Adlestrop Park, during Jane’s lifetime was James Henry Leigh, who inherited in 1774, when he was only nine years old. His uncle, Rev. Thomas Leigh, was his guardian and the rector of Adlestrop at that time. He was Cassandra Leigh’s first cousin. Rev. Thomas lived with his wife Mary and his unmarried sister Elizabeth, who was the godmother of Jane’s sister Cassandra.

Memorial to James Henry Leigh, squire of Adlestrop when Austen visited there. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Apparently Cassandra Leigh was closer to Rev. Thomas than to James Henry. On their visits, the Austens always stayed in the rectory, not in the great house. They would certainly have attended the Adlestrop church, where Rev. Thomas preached. Jane Austen first visited Adlestrop in 1794, when she was 19. She visited again five years later, in 1799, and then in 1806, when she was 31. Throughout the years, the Austen and Leigh families kept in touch through letters.

The nave of the Adlestrop church, where the congregation sits. Perhaps Jane Austen sat on one of these pews, or an earlier version of them. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Many of Cassandra Leigh’s relatives were clergymen*, including her father, an uncle, two cousins, a brother-in-law, and a nephew. Leigh family members were patrons of various church livings connected with their extensive properties, and bestowed those livings on relatives, as was customary. In Austen’s novels, for example, both Henry Tilney and Edmund Bertram receive livings from their fathers. Livings might also be given by more distant relations. The Honorable Mary Leigh, for example, gave Edward Cooper (Jane Austen’s cousin) his living at Hamstall Ridware in Staffordshire. 

A living green cross welcomes visitors to the Adlestrop church. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Stoneleigh Abbey and Inheritance

In 1806, the last member of the Stoneleigh branch of the Leigh family, the Honorable Mary Leigh, died, and Rev. Thomas Leigh, inherited. Mrs. Austen [Cassandra Leigh, who was Rev. Thomas’s first cousin], with her daughters Jane and Cassandra, were visiting Rev. Thomas at the time, and they traveled with him to take possession of Stoneleigh. The Abbey made a strong impression on Jane and her family. Mrs. Austen wrote letters describing its wonders.

When Rev. Leigh inherited Stoneleigh Abbey, he gave a settlement to another claimant*, Jane’s uncle, James Leigh-Perrot (Cassandra Leigh’s brother). The understanding was that rich Mr. Leigh-Perrot would share this settlement with the needy Austens and Coopers. However, he did not. Jane attributed this lack of generosity to Mrs. Leigh-Perrot; perhaps she was caricatured as selfish Fanny Dashwood of Sense and Sensibility. You can find more details in “Jane Austen’s Leigh Family: Stories behind the Stories.”

When James Leigh-Perrot died, he left almost everything to his wife. Eventually, when Mrs. Leigh-Perrot died in 1836, some of her estate went to Jane’s nephew, James’s son James Edward. He had to take the name Leigh, becoming James Edward Austen-Leigh. 

Next month I’ll post more pictures of Stoneleigh Abbey and talk about its possible parallels with Sotherton and Northanger Abbey in Austen’s novels.

The Leighs who inherited Stoneleigh Abbey and the surrounding lands eventually became much wealthier than the Leighs who inherited Adlestrop. But when that branch died out, some of the Adlestrop Leighs inherited the Abbey. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Improvements—Mansfield Park

“Improvements” of land and property often meant providing more “picturesque,” more “natural” views, according to the ideas promoted by Gilpin at the time. In Mansfield Park, Mr. Rushworth wants to get the well-known expert, Humphry Repton, to improve his estate. Henry Crawford has already improved his own estate, and he advises Edmund Bertram on improving his parsonage. In Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Dashwood talks often of making improvements to Barton Cottage, but she never has the funds for it. John and Fanny Dashwood do spend their money making improvements to Norland, which Elinor and Marianne don’t think much of. Mr. Collins makes improvements to his parsonage. Elizabeth is impressed that the Darcys have shown good taste in improving Pemberley, inside and out.

Austen more strongly commends personal “improvement,” though, improvement in mind, in manners, in education.

Austen would have known first-hand about Repton and his improvements from her cousins in Adlestrop and Stoneleigh. Rev. Thomas Leigh and his nephew employed Repton to make improvements to the manor, rectory, and surrounding lands of Adlestrop. Records show payments to Repton between 1798 and 1812.

Adlestrop House, the former rectory, where Jane Austen and her family stayed. The bow on the left side was added later, and the entrance returned to its original position. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Rev. Leigh “improved” his parsonage at Adlestrop by moving his front door to another side of the house, so the principal rooms would face the pretty valley. He also destroyed “a dirty farmyard and house which came within a few yards of the Windows.” Similarly, in Mansfield Park, Henry Crawford tells Edmund Bertram that he must improve his parsonage: “The farmyard must be cleared away entirely, and planted up to shut out the blacksmith’s shop. The house must be turned to front the east instead of the north—the entrance and principal rooms, I mean, must be on that side, where the view is really very pretty.” He also recommends combining gardens, changing a stream, and moving a road.

Rev. Thomas Leigh enclosed neighbouring land (with permission), adding it to his church living, and created a small lake from some flooded ground. As Huxley says, “Now he had a ‘Pleasure Ground’ to rival his brother’s” (at the Adlestrop estate). He moved roads and paths, as Mr. Knightley is planning to do in Emma. Jane Austen would have seen these improvements first hand during her visits. Sometimes she might have felt, like Mary Crawford, that all was “dirt and confusion, without a gravel walk to step on, or a bench fit for use” because of all the changes in process. However, as Mr. Collins did for his visitors, no doubt Rev. Leigh proudly took the Austen family on a thorough tour of his parsonage and its gardens, pointing out with pride all the improvements he was making.

In 1799, some land was exchanged between the church and the manor. In return, James Henry paid to build and fence a better church road and enclose the churchyard with a stone wall. In 1800, Repton was hired to unite the gardens of the rectory and Adlestrop Park, to improve the views. Dr. Grant in Mansfield Park also extends a wall and makes a plantation “to shut out the churchyard,” improving the view from the parsonage.

Rev. Thomas Leigh expanded the park area between the rectory and Adlestrop Park, adding an unused part of the church graveyard to the Park. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Austen would have heard about Repton’s later “improvements” in Stoneleigh Abbey’s grounds, which Thomas Leigh set about once he moved in. Repton’s “Red Book,” showing the suggested improvements, is still in existence. You can see a video of it here. Not all of Repton’s recommendations were followed, but some were.

The Leighs and Persuasion

Two other stories from the Leigh family are echoed in Persuasion. At one point, the Adlestrop family was deep in debt and needed to “retrench” in order not to lose the estate. They rented out the manor and moved to Holland for some years, until their finances were in order. Sir Walter and his family, of course, only moved to Bath; we wonder if they will ever make it back to Kellynch!

The Leighs also had an aunt who fell in love with an army officer. The family disapproved because of his lack of money. She married him secretly before he went off to war. When he returned as–guess who? Captain Wentworth!– she finally got her family’s approval. Elizabeth Wentworth and her Captain became wealthy and were benefactors to their Leigh relatives. The largest marble tablet in the Adlestrop church, just behind the pulpit, memorializes Elizabeth Wentworth.

For more of these stories, see my post on the Stories Behind the Stories. 

Memorial in the Adlestrop church to Elizabeth Wentworth, whose story is similar to Anne Elliot’s in Persuasion. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Adlestrop Today

The church, St. Mary Magdalene, at Adlestrop is well worth a visit. The church dates from the thirteenth century, though much of it was rebuilt in the 1750s. In the Victorian period, the window traceries were replaced, and stained glass windows and a clock added. The church is one of seven in the Evenlode Vale Benefice. Services are usually held at St. Mary Magdalene twice a month. Like other country churches, a handful of the faithful attend regular services, while larger crowds come to special services at Harvest and Christmas. We don’t know about attendance numbers in Austen’s time. Supposedly, by 1851, “‘all parishioners without exception‘ attended church at least once a week” (Huxley, 201). 

St. Mary Magdalene’s Church, Adlestrop. The interior includes many memorials to the Leigh family, and many of the family are buried in the churchyard.Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

The rectory where Jane and her family stayed is now called Adlestrop House, and, along with Adlestrop Park, still belongs to the Leigh family. Both are very close to the church, but are not open to the public. The lands were originally monastic lands owned by Evesham Abbey.

The Old Schoolhouse opposite the church was built after Austen’s time. However, Austen probably saw the earlier charity school, supported by donations from the Leigh family and other local gentry. In 1803, sixteen children learned reading, knitting, and other marketable skills at that “school of industry.” By 1818 there was a day school for boys and another for girls. A Sunday school attended by 52 children was supported by a bequest from Rev. Thomas Leigh (Huxley, 203). (Sunday schools taught reading and other basic skills to working-class children, who were only free on Sundays.)

The last chapter of Jane Austen & Adlestrop takes readers on a tour of Adlestrop today, still a sleepy country village, but with history around every corner.

Adlestrop Park, the manor, etching in 1818, from Historic England.
Across from the church in Adlestrop is the “Coachman’s Cottage,” in a building dated 1722. The “Old Schoolhouse” next door was probably built in the mid-1800s. Photo © Brenda S. Cox, 2023

Notes

* Claimants for the Stoneleigh Abbey estate (this is complicated, sorry! You can find a chart of these relationships in Jane Austen & Adlestrop, by Victoria Huxley, or in Jane Austen and the Clergy, by Irene Collins):

Theophilus Leigh (died 1724), of the Adlestrop Leighs (great-great grandson of the Lord Mayor), had 14 children.

Theophilus’s oldest son, William, had a son named James (who died in 1774). James had one son (Theophilus’s grandson), James Henry (1765-1823). William’s second son was Rev. Thomas Leigh (1734-1813), rector of Adlestrop, who had no children.

Theophilus’s next surviving son, Dr. Theophilus Leigh (died 1785), was a clergyman and Master of Balliol at Oxford. He had no sons who survived childhood. One of his daughters married Rev. Thomas Leigh of Adlestrop, and another married Rev. Samuel Cooke, Jane Austen’s godfather.

Theophilus’s next son, also Rev. Thomas Leigh (died 1764), was Cassandra Leigh Austen’s father. He had a son, James Leigh-Perrot (1735-1817), just a year younger than Rev. Thomas Leigh of Adlestrop. James had added “Perrot” to his last name to get an inheritance from his wife’s family.

So in 1806, the closest living male heirs were Rev. Thomas Leigh of Adlestrop, who inherited the estate, then he passed it to his nephew James Henry Leigh. They gave money to James Leigh-Perrot, the third claimant, to pay off his claim.

For more stories of the Leigh family and their connections with Jane Austen’s novels, see “Jane Austen’s Leigh Family: Stories behind the Stories.”

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.

Further Reading

“Jane Austen’s Leigh Family: Stories Behind the Stories”

“Jane Austen’s Clergymen and Her Leigh Family”

“Edward Cooper: Jane Austen’s Evangelical Cousin”

“Jane Austen’s Family Churches: St. Michael and All Angels, Hamstall Ridware”

Sources

Jane Austen & Adlestrop: Her Other Family, by Victoria Huxley. Highly recommended. US Amazon link

The Story of Elizabeth Wentworth or “Aunt Betty”—Jane Austen’s Anne Elliot? By Sheila Woolf (obtained from Stoneleigh Abbey)

Stoneleigh Abbey by Paula Cornwell (obtained from Stoneleigh Abbey)

Jane Austen: A Family Record, 2nd ed., by Deirdre Le Faye 

Adlestrop Park and House

St. Mary Magdalene, Adlestrop 

Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and Stoneleigh Abbey

 

If you have been enjoying this series on Jane Austen Family Churches and would like to contribute to the needs of those churches, keeping them viable and helping them better preserve and present Austen’s legacy, please go to JASNA’s Donate to Austen-Related Institutions. Thanks!

 

Posts on Jane Austen Family Churches and Churches mentioned in Austen’s novels

Adlestrop and the Leigh Family

Ashe and the Lefroy Family

Chawton

Deane

Godmersham

Goodnestone

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

Hamstall Ridware and Austen’s First Cousin, Edward Cooper

Horsmonden

St. Paul’s Covent Garden

St. Swithin’s, Walcot and other churches in Northanger Abbey

Steventon

Stoneleigh Abbey Chapel and Mansfield Park

Tonbridge: Home Parish of Jane Austen’s Father

Winchester Cathedral

St. Andrew’s Colyton, Devon (future JAW post)

St. Peter’s Hurstbourne Tarrant (the Lloyds’ church; future JAW post)

Garrison Chapel

London Churches mentioned in Austen’s Novels

St. George’s, Hanover Square

Bath Abbey

JASNA Austen Family Churches

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