Jane Austen’s Lodge in College St. Winchester

As Jane Austen’s health was persistently declining since early 1816, she had to accept her family’s request to move to Winchester to be closer to Mr. Lyford, her medical doctor. On May 24 1817, Jane and Cassandra moved out of Chawton and traveled to Winchester with a carriage, with faithful Henry and William Austen (Edward’s fourth son) riding alongside the carriage. Upon their arrival in Winchester, the Austen sisters resided in 8 College Street (the building still exists now as a private house). Tomalin (2002) wrote that the house was a two-storey house with two sitting rooms, a bow window and two nice bedrooms at the back. Mary Austen (Jane’s niece, daughter of Frank Austen) was sent from Steventon to help Cassandra taking care of Jane. Although Jane insisted that she was getting better, her health did not improve so much; ‘Mr. Lyford has candidly told us that her case is desperate… Lyford said he saw no sign of immediate dissolution’, as James Austen wrote in June 1817.

And so it was. On July 15, 1817 Jane Austen wrote her last poem (‘When Winchester Races’), which contained among others the following lines:

'Oh! subjects rebellious! Oh Venta depraved
When once we are buried you think we are gone
But behold me immortal! By vice you're enslaved
You have sinned and must suffer, ten farther he said

Venta, by the way, is an old name for Winchester. Tomalin (2000) argued that the second line should have naturally ended ‘dead’, as it rhymed with ‘said’, but either ‘Jane could not say the word, or her sister could not bring herself to write it down’. And now, having learned that Jane loved doing anagrams and other riddles (see Sheehan's and Arnie's analysis of Emma for example), I was wondering if her last poem also contained other information. Anyone up to the challenge? Arnie?

Anyway, that was the last thing Jane wrote, as three days later on July 18, 1817, she passed away in that house, as she rested over Cassandra’s lap. She might be just inhaling Cassandra’s perfume and rest peacefully on the pillow on Cassandra's lap, looking at the street and trees outside… or perhaps scanning flashback images of her life… including her romance with Tom Lefroy? We would not know, eh?

I also used the house in Winchester as the background setting for my ‘Countenance So Beloved’ fan-fiction (in which our heroine received a deathbed visit from an old acquaintance from Dublin). I did not do my research properly back then; I didn’t think to browse any pictures. But, the house in my mind was similar to this house in College St.; with at least one storey and a large window where Jane could see the streets outside. So, when I first saw the image of house in College St., I shivered, for that was the house that I imagined in my story.

PS July 6, 2007:

I just recalled that Jane and Cassandra Austen moved from Chawton to Winchester on May 24, 1817. Coincidentally (and rather eerie for me), I started this blog site on May 24, 2007. It might be trivial, but it was rather strange to realise it... and rather scary as well.

Reference:

Tomalin, C. 2000, Jane Austen: A Life, Penguin Books, London.

Pic: the house where Jane resided (and took her last breath) in College St., Winchester.