Manydown Park: where it all started...
This is a picture of Manydown Park where Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy once danced together. In fact, it was in Manydown that our youthful couple did the ‘most profligate and shocking’ dances and discussions, as mentioned in Jane’s first letter (January 9, 1976) (Nokes 1997, p. 248).
By the by, it is possible that Julian Jarrold &c took this Bigg-Wither character and developed him into Mr. Wisley, for Jane also refused poor Wisley's proposal for marriage. Why, Nokes even said that Harris Bigg-Wither was 'a less amiable companion. Tall, clumsy and awkward, he would shamble through the house, or lounge on a sofa, adding little to the general conversation' (p. 251).
Just a note, Mr. Wisley and Lady Gresham are fictional characters, for to my knowledge their names are not in any Austen biographies or letters at all. The Manydown Park was not included in Becoming Jane either, for Jane and Tom did their first dance in the Basingstoke Assembly Room. I will try to get the picture later and post it in another article.
Reference:
Chapman, R. W. 1979, Jane Austen's Letters to Her Sister Cassandra and Others, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Halperin, J. 1985, 'Jane Austen's Lovers', Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 719-736.Tomalin, C. 2000, Jane Austen: A Life, Penguin Books,
Nokes, D. 1997, Jane Austen: A Life, Fourth Estate, London.
2 comments:
Sir Arthur Bates, who last lived at Manydown was my great great great uncle's son. Really sad that Manydown was pulled down in 1965.
Love the blog. Thanks!
Frances, thank you so much for your kind words! Yeah, so sad that the great house was pulled down... it's like the Steventon Rectory pulled down...
Luckily, we still have Carrigglas, though it's turned into a hotel now. But at least, we can still see its grandeur.
And thank you for the info re: Sir Arthur Bates. Truly appreciate it!
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