Chawton celebrates literary women far beyond its Austen connections

I am always delighted by bits of English heritage that are thriving thanks to the money and passions of Americans. Many of these rescue stories are well known: Blenheim Palace, Hidecote Manor Gardens and Hever Castle are just the tip of an enormous iceberg. Little did I realise that Chawton House, in my own neighbourhood, is another member of the American club.

If you’re judging on the usual stately home standards of architectural grandeur or museum-quality contents, Chawton is little known and insignificant . Amongst one group, however, it’s vastly important. Serious Jane Austen fans, aka “Janeites” will know of it as the home of Jane’s brother, Edward, whose generousity gave her the time and space to write her novels. While the Austen link is important, it’s the house’s role as an advocate for and repository of the works of literary women from the Tudor through Georgian periods that makes it truly unique these days. Chawton’s survival as a heritage attraction open to visitors, and its broader literary endeavours, are due to California-born Sandy Lerner.

Lerner was a co-founder of Cisco Systems and, in classic Silicon Valley style, graduated from IT exec to investor and benefactor. With degrees in international relations and economics before she embraced computing, Lerner was more of a Renaissance being than your typical IT boffin, displayed in her subsequent involvement in animal welfare, historic home renovation and the founding of Urban Decay cosmetics. Most salient to the Chawton story, however, is Lerner’s fascination with early female writers, many of whom produced popular works in their lifetimes but were forgotten in male-curated history. When Chawton's owners in the early 1990s decided they could no longer maintain the house, Lerner’s literary passions and love of Jane Austen made her the perfect buyer. She didn’t just spearhead the restoration of a building in tenuous shape, she established a Centre for the Study of Early Women’s Writing (1600-1830) and donated a significant, and probably unique, collection of books by those oft-neglected writers. Though Lerner is no longer actively involved in running the place, her spirit lives on.

As someone who’s spent her whole working life in the IT industry, I can assure you that female executives are rare beasts, and senior leaders interested in history and the arts rank with dragons and hippogriffs. The Chawton story filled me with joy. More practically, so did the experience of visiting the house. 

It’s not a large place, but full of charm. Not an aristocratic residence, but the kind of small estate over which you’d find Austen characters like Mr. Knightly or Colonel Brandon presiding. Unsurprising; Jane spent a great deal of time here and it would have been a natural model. It’s a venerable, grey stone pile with two pronounced gables and a generally Jacobean appearance, though its roots are Elizabethan and the Victorians added bits. It sits three quarters of the way up a hill, woods to its back and a verdant valley at its feet, with thatch-heavy, hugely picturesque Chawton village just a 10-minute walk.

Inside, there’s a procession of pretty, panelled rooms, some hugely atmospheric hallways and all the split levels and strange corners you’d expect of a place that’s been added to bit by bit over more than 400 years without ever seeing a comprehensive makeover in any one style. Most magical, no doubt because I was already in a literary frame of mind and the house is, functionally, a giant library, were the many nooks that seemed perfect for reading or writing. The most obvious spot was labelled as the alcove that had once been Jane’s favourite, but there were armchairs in front of fires or on small landings, benches in sunlight-filled hallways and a cozy little room with a writing desk in it that invited paper-based recreation. 

Other items of interest on permanent display in the house include family portraits … a fascinating clan full of interesting women ... a striking 17th century staircase, a detailed map of early Georgian London on an enormous folding screen, armourial glass in windows and period costumes. Entering the library, tucked behind the gift shop, is by request and worth doing to see shelves packed with historic tomes you've probably never heard of. Here was the only disappointment of touring Chawton. Quite understandably, you have to be supervised by a staff member when you're looking at this precious collection, and unless you're a registered academic who's made a request in advance you can't take anything down to read. If you love books, it's like walking into a lavish bakery when you're on Weight Watchers.

The shop can assuage that unfulfilled hunger; it's a small but beautifully curated selection of books, literary-themed gifts and country house-influenced homeware. 

Upstairs, two rooms serve as galleries for temporary exhibitions, mostly drawn from the books in the library. There's none of the fancy set design, lighting and projection I recently wrote about in my article on the Museum of Danish Resistance, but there’s still a strong effort here at storytelling … even if what you’re looking at is mostly books and documents. The current exhibition is Trailblazers: Women travel writers and the exchange of knowledge. Obviously, a topic near and dear to my heart.

None of these early women set out to earn money off the descriptions of their journeys. Most travelled for other reasons, from their husbands' jobs to escapism to enjoying the same grand tours as their brothers. Many had outrageous adventures beyond the imaginations of modern professionals: imprisonment, shipwreck, death of the travelling companion who was their reason for travel, revolution. Unsurprisingly, their adventures made for some fabulous literature, much of it sadly no longer in print. 

We meet Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who accompanied her ambassador husband to the Ottoman court, and amongst other wonders wrote about successful vaccinations 75 years before Jenner “invented” the smallpox vaccine in England. Hester Stanhope, niece and hostess to Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, went travelling across the Eastern Mediterranean, became an early archeologist, went native and never came home. Maria Graham accompanied her naval officer husband around the world, started writing about her travels and eventually earned her living from writing after her husband died. 

These are just a few of the fascinating heroines you get to meet. On display are their notes and published books, plus ephemera like 19th century grand tourists’ calling cards, historic passports and letters of transit (ones from the Ottoman Empire are spectacularly beautiful), sketches and watercolours. Curators add a bit of fun with a “passport” you can pick up at the start and “stamp” with different locations as you learn about each of the women in the spotlight. The exhibition continues until 26 February.

Chawton has a surprising number of special events given its humble size, including upcoming lectures on the exhibition, snowdrop walks and a Valentine's Day dinner in its old kitchen, all listed on its website. General admission is free for Historic Houses Association members. An adult day ticket is £12.

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-Jane Austen sites make for a grown up hen do

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