Southampton
Frank and Mary Austen set up home in Southampton as newly-weds in the autumn of 1806. At first they lived in temporary lodgings, and then settled in a large house in Castle Square during March 1807.
They were joined in the household by Frank's mother, his two sisters and their old friend, Martha Lloyd. This was the first long term residence the Austen ladies had known since the death of Mr Austen two years earlier.
Frank's wife Mary did not stay for very long, and by the autumn of 1807, after giving birth to her first child, she took her daughter travelling to meet different relations. She eventually settled on the Isle of Wight and then rented a cottage in Alton.
The place where the original house stood in Castle Square is now the site where the former Juniper Berry Inn stands. (Map)
Next door to their home, amongst medieval cottages, was a mock gothic castle owned by the Marquis of Lansdowne and his wife. They were rather eccentric residents and brought colour to the neighbourhood. You can read about them in an article written by Jean Watts for the Southampton Local History Forum Journal here
Southampton has been expanded beyond recognition today and there is no trace left of the house and the castle that used to be there.
Part of the old city wall still remains, however, and this photograph shows the view of the road where the Austens lived. The concrete area below would have been full of water.
Southampton City Museums has a painting by Sebastian Pether that shows the same scene at the turn of the nineteenth century, with the castle dominating the skyline. You can view it on the Art UK website here.
Tony Grant has written a very detailed article for the Jane Austen in Vermont website , about the city at the time when the Austens resided there. You can read it here.
On 31 May, 1807, Frank and Mary's first child, Mary Jane, was christened at All Saints Church on the High Street, which was the regular worshipping place of the Austen family. Sadly, the building was destroyed by bombs during World War 2 and never rebuilt. There is a page dedicated to it on Sotonopedia here.
Many family members visited the Austens in Southampton and enjoyed excursions with them. James and Mary Austen were the first to come early in 1807, followed by Edward Cooper who brought his family the same summer.
Edward Austen and his wife, Elizabeth, came with some of their children during the autumn of 1807, along with Henry Austen who organised days out to Netley Abbey and tours of the New Forest to Lindhurst and Lymington.
Netley Abbey is now owned by English Heritage. You can find out more on their website here.
The family also took boat trips to Hythe to meet the family of Charles Austen's new wife, Fanny Palmer, who were staying in the area.
When Edward's wife, Elizabeth, died in 1808, her two eldest boys were briefly taken out of school in Winchester and stayed here in Southampton with their grandmother and aunts.
The Jane Austen Trail has a series of plaques around the city related to Jane Austen's connections there. If you would like to follow it yourself around the nine different sites in the city, you can access the website for Tudor House and Garden here. It has a downloadable leaflet with more information.
sample of plaques
Much has been written about history of Southampton over time, and the two links below are particularly relevant to the time and settings of our novel.
The University of Southampton Special Collections has an article about Jane Austen's Southampton here.
Historic Southampton takes a walk In Jane Austen's Footsteps here.
Extract
If you would like to read an extract from The Austens of Bath where events take place in Southampton, click here.
REFERENCES
Hill, C. (1901) Jane Austen: Her Homes and Her Friends. dodopress.co.uk: Dodo Press. pp.100-108
Townsend, T. (2014) Jane Austen's Hampshire. Somerset: Halsgrove. pp. 92-103
Worsley L. (2017) Jane Austen at Home. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, pp.271-288.