Jane Austen’s grave

2025 marks the 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, one of (in my opinion!) England’s greatest authors. Pride and Prejudice, perhaps her best-known work, alone has sold more than 20 million copies, having never been out of print. She was born in Hampshire in the village of Steventon and died in Winchester.

From 1809 until 1817, Jane lived in the village of Chawton where her brother, Edward, owned Chawton House. The house where she lived is now known as Jane Austen's House Museum and is a lovely place to visit whether a Jane fan or no. Chawton House itself is also worth going to as Jane was a frequent visitor there whilst living at the cottage.

In 1817, Jane became ill and moved to a house in College Street, Winchester with her sister to be closer to her doctor. At the age of 41, she died with her sister, Cassandra, beside her at 4:30 in the morning of July 18th 817 at 8, College Street. Her last recorded words, the day before, were ‘God grant me patience. Pray for me, oh pray for me.’ The house where she died is not open to the public, but bears a plaque commemorating the event.

Jane is buried in the north nave aisle of Winchester Cathedral, which is near to the house where she died, marked by a simple, black memorial stone. The lengthy inscription mentions ‘the extraordinary endowments of her mind’ , but fails to mention her achievements as a novelist. At this time, however, her name was not well known as a writer- her books were written by ‘a lady’. Only four people attended Jane’s brief funeral service in 1817; many more than that flock to her grave daily now.

In 1870, Jane’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, published a memoir about her and used the proceeds for a brass plaque on the wall near her tomb. It was erected in 1870, when Austen was becoming more widely known as an author and so acknowledges her writing.

Above this, there is a memorial stained glass window, there is a memorial window, paid for by public subscription and erected in 1900. The head of the window features St Augustine which is thought to be a pun, playing on the name Austen.