Tag: Winchester Cathedral

We last left Jane Austen at Chawton Cottage, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.  Jane’s most productive writing periods were pre-Bath (before 1801) and after the move to Chawton in 1809.  The first produced Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey.  During the second, she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. She also began publishing in this Chawton period, beginning with Sense and Sensibility first.

Chawton Cottage was the hub of comfort for the extended Austen family.  Here, was Mrs. Austen, the mother of Jane and her siblings and grandmother to their children, and the two beloved maiden aunts, Jane and Cassandra.  And, the nieces and nephews came to stay, sometimes for a vacation, sometimes for longer when there was a death in the family and they needed a place to be and someone to cheer them up.

We blew into Winchester Cathedral at the end of a very long day, and I use that verb advisedly.  We had spent the morning and afternoon in Austen country—Steventon where she grew up, and the St. Nicholas Parish Church (Part 1 and Part 2 on the blog) and Chawton Cottage (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) where I wandered around for far too long.  So, by the time we got to Winchester Cathedral, there was, it seemed, just a teacup full of time left before the church closed for the day.

But, stepping inside was into a sea of calm.  I paid my respects at the grave, and still had time to walk around the cathedral, breathe the air, and dwell on its history.  And while Jane Austen is arguably its most important occupant, Winchester Cathedral was there for many centuries before her, and its mellow stones are steeped in legend…and some myth.  Read on.