Austen 200

Jane Austen, 1775-1817, whose bicentenary we mark this year, has many Kent connections and visited the county and her relatives here throughout her short but hugely significant life.

- Jill Webster and Vivian Branson

2017 MARKS the bicentenary of the death of one of Britain’s best-loved authors, Jane Austen, at the early age of 41.

Her sixth and last novel, Persuasion, was completed in August 1816, and she was at work on a seventh, Sanditon, until two months before her death; sadly, it was never to be completed.

She was not a huge bestseller in her lifetime, but 200 years later, is read and loved all over the world. There are Jane Austen Societies from Argentina to North America, from The Netherlands to Italy, from Mumbai to Australia.

It is in our lovely county of Kent that Austen roots are found: William Astyn lived in Yalding, died in 1522 and his descendants moved to Horsmonden.

Austen memorials are found in the pretty church of St Margaret’s. Inside the church there is a charming brass memorial inlaid into the floor to Joan Berry Austen who died in 1604; it’s well worth reading the inscription which includes ‘let neither husband nor children nor lands nor goods separate me from my god’.

Joan Berry married John Austen I and bore him nine children, but died aged just 36. In the graveyard which looks over the Kentish countryside, there are many Austens, including a gated tomb.

Travel towards Horsmonden village passing the houses the Austens occupied: Grovehurst and Broadford. The Austens were cloth makers and known as the ‘Grey Coats of Kent’ which reflected their plain dress.

Tonbridge has a wealth of Austen associations. It was here that Jane’s great grandmother, Elizabeth Weller, was born and brought up. She lived in some comfort in Bordyke in a house called Chauntlers (now divided into The Priory and The Red House).