Lockdown Literary Festival
Programme Catching Up Thank you so much to everyone who joined in with this wonderful weekend of talks and discussions. The videos will remain online for the time being (some indefinitely) so please do [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 4
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 4 My first doth affliction denote Which my second is destin'd to feel. And my whole is the best antidote That affliction to soften and heal. Quoted in Jane Austen, Emma (1815) It’s Week [...]
Celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE day
This week we celebrate the anniversary of VE day, and this blog relives some wartime memories from Chawton House. Peter Knight At the outbreak of the war, Edward Knight III owned the house. He was posted to [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 3
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 3 Harmonious Powers with Nature work On sky, earth, river, lake, and sea: Sunshine and storm, whirlwind and breeze All in one duteous task agree. Dorothy Wordsworth ‘Floating Island’ (late 1820s) It’s Week 3 [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 2
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 2 I owe to the kind Poet who has set Upon my ambitious head a glorious gain. Two bending laurel Sprigs 'tis nearly pain To be conscious of such a Coronet. John Keats ‘On [...]
Relaunching The Female Spectator
Chawton House’s magazine, The Female Spectator, is relaunching with a special lockdown issue, to be published online in June. The frontispiece to Eliza Haywood's Female Spectator Originally set up in 1995, Chawton House’s magazine is a tribute [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Hail! Goddess of persuasive art! The magic of whose tuneful tongue Lulls to soft harmony the wand’ring heart With fascinating song Mary Robinson, ‘Ode to Eloquence’ (1789) Calling all budding poets – beginners and [...]
Our curator introduces Chawton House’s collection
Our curator Emma Yandle explores the breadth of our collection and introduces her work to make it more accessible to the public. My job, as the first curator of Chawton House, is look after our extensive collection: safeguarding it physically [...]
Chawton House’s #rainbowsofhope
Inspired by #rainbowsofhope we at Chawton House are teaming up with Jane Austen’s House to highlight some of our favourite objects in our collections, focussing on the different colours of the rainbow. A rainbow over Jane Austen's House [...]
Coronavirus update (24 March)
**Update following the Prime Minister's announcement on 23 March on the latest restrictions** After much careful consideration and in response to the latest Government advice, we have decided that the House, Collection and the Old Kitchen Tea Room and [...]