Walking Jane Austen’s London

Walking Jane Austen’s London is a book that should be in every Janeite’s nonfiction section of their library. This book truly is as the front cover describes—a tour guide. With short and interesting anecdotes for each historical place passed (but without the rushed pace of the tour and droning voice of the guide) as well as many pictures of the Regency world then and now, Walking Jane Austen’s London captures the attention and provides a fun activity for any Austen lover.

 

23 Hans Place: Jane Austen stayed a house on this site off Sloane Street with her brother Henry in 1814-15

 

Walk 1—Sloane Street to Kensington Palace Gardens

• The room of her brother’s home where Jane Austen did most of her letter-writing and proof reading in.

 

• Kensington Gardens, where Elinor (from Sense and Sensibility) took a stroll–although the beauty would be somewhat marred by her companions, Mrs. Jennings and Lucy Steele!

Lady Brownlow, in her ” Reminiscences of a Septuagenarian,” tells us that after the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, she here met the celebrated Madame Recamier, who created a sensation at the West-end, partly by her beauty, but still more by her dress, which was vastly unlike the unsophisticated style and poke bonnets of the English ladies. “She appeared in Kensington Gardens à l’antique, a muslin gown clinging to her form like the folds of drapery on a statue; her hair in a plait at the back, and falling in small ringlets round her face, and greasy with huile antique; a large veil thrown over her head completed her attire, which not unnaturally caused her to be followed and stared at.” No doubt, dressed in such a costume, and at such a period, Madame Recamier might well have been the “cynosure of neighbouring eyes.” janeausten/kensington-gardens

Walk 2—Marylebone and Bond Street

• Bond Street (present in many Regency novels), the parading ground of the dandies, beaux, and the Prince Regent.  londons-bond-streets-old-and-new
• Wimpole Street, where Maria Rushworth (from Mansfield Park) lived before running off with Henry Crawford. wimpole-street

Walk 3—Mayfair

• The home of Jane’s publisher, John Murray, who was (in her opinion) “…a Rogue of course, but a civil one.”
• The residence of the fashionable and well-dressed dandy, Beau Brummell.

Walk 4—Leicester Square to Green Park

• Almack’s Assembly was the exclusive “marriage mart” of the ton. While potential spouses for your sons and daughters could be found elsewhere, the “best” ones could ideally be found at Almack’s, where the average, everyday riffraff need not apply. Who wouldn’t want their daughter to find a wealthy, well-connected—perhaps titled—spouse to enrich the family fortunes? Matchmaking mothers everywhere yearned to have their marriageable offspring included among the exclusive company of Almack’s. regency-rites-almacks-assembly-rooms

 

• White’s, the most exclusive of the Regency clubs and location of the famous ‘Beau’ Window, place to sit and be admired. This was also where Henry Austen was invited for a ball, along with a prince, a king, and an emperor! White's is a gentleman's club in St James's Street, London. It is the oldest and most exclusive gentleman's club in London.^[1][2] It gained a reputation in the 18th century for both its exclusivity and the often raffish behaviour of its members. wiki/White's

Walk 5—Soho to the British Museum

• The British Museum, which has Regency and Georgian exhibits, as well as a tearoom.
• Turk’s Head coffee house, the favorite haunt of Doctor Johnson and Joshua Reynolds.

 

Read more on: london-coffee-houses.

The Jamaica Wine House was originally The Turks Head, London’s first coffee house that opened between 1650 and 1652.

 

Walk 6—Westminster to Charing Cross
wiki/Poets'_Corner

• The Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey, where Jane Austen has a plaque in her honor.
• The site where Jane Austen found a portrait that “was” Jane Bingley (from Pride and Prejudice).

Walk 7—Somerset House to Lincoln’s Inn Fields

Drury Lane 1808

• Drury Lane Theatre, the lobby where Willoughby learns of Marianne’s illness from Sir John Middleton (from Sense and Sensibility).

•  Lincoln’s Inn (one of four historic Inns of Court), where Jane Austen’s friend and romantic interest, Tom Lefroy, returned to his legal studies after his time with relatives (and Jane).
• lincolnsinn

Walk 8—Temple Bar to London Bridge

twinings

• The original Twining’s teashop, where the Austen family bought their tea.

 wiki/St_Clement_Danes

 

• St. Clement’s Church, where Lydia and Mr. Wickham joined hands in marriage—albeit reluctantly on his part (from Pride and Prejudice).

austenprose

Wikimapia is an online collaborative mapping system that combines google maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information. Click here to see an interactive image of a portion of London that shows Hyde Park, Mayfair, and Green Park.
map /darton1817/darton