JANE AUSTEN CENTRE – BATH
Pride & Prejudice and Tea with Mr. Darcy
Jane Austen has come home to Bath after 200 years. The Jane Austen Centre of Bath has recently installed a new wax figure likeness of the world’s most famous woman romance author. A three year project by a forensic artist, Melissa Dring, who also did an earlier interpretation of Austen, working from an 1810 watercolor sketch drawn by her sister and contemporary descriptions by a nephew, is the newest image representation of the author of perennial favorites like “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma” to take a place in the exhibition space in Bath, alongside the tea cups.
Jane Austin was neither born nor buried in Bath, and only lived in the city in southwest of England for five years of her relatively short life, but it is the city she is most associated with and any visit to Bath will likely be drawn to or encounter a bit of Austen. Austen was born and lived most of her early life in the Hampshire country hamlet of Steventon near Basingstoke. She visited Bath twice as a girl and moved there with her parents after her father decided to retire from his rectory position. She lived in the city from 1801 to 1806, but had already written some of her best known works by then. Her time in Bath was relatively unproductive as a writer, only starting but not completing one book, a sequel story to Emma, perhaps distracted by the unfamiliar world of city life, and then the death of her father in 1805. The family then moved to Southampton for a time, then the village of Chaunton, where she published four novels, then Winchester where she spent her final days, dying at the age of 41, of an illness still a matter of speculation.
While much can be gleaned of the life and world Jane Austen knew from her novels, much of the details of her personal thoughts and life are matters of speculation, thanks to the same sister, Cassandra who brought us the drawing. Cassandra famously burned the greater part of her sisters letters, while others were disposed of by her heirs, so what is known of one of the finest interpreters of the mores and motivations of the people of her time, remains a bit of a waxwork figure herself.
The Jane Austen Centre is not a museum, but more a celebration of the author’s life and times, and the local cottage homages that have grown around her popularity and fan enthusiasm. Outside the door of the center, passers-by are greeted by a costumed character from one of the popular stories, typically Mr. Bennett. A visit to the exhibition begins with live introduction to Jane Austen’s life in Bath by a guide in Regency costume in a classroom like upper floor room where with a window looking out on the street where Austen would have walked. A presentation starts every 20 minutes. After the orientation, the doors open to explore the rooms of reproduction examples of dress and style of the times of the early 1800s Regency period and exhibits of the social life and entertainments of the time and some of Austen’s life in Bath.
Mr. Darcy is likely to be encountered in many forms, especially in the Regency Tea Room, at the end of the visit where one is invited to have “Tea With Mr. Darcy”, surrounded by the interpretations of the character as interpreted in the film and television adaptations from the most beloved work. The gift shop will also allow for continued encounters with the novel characters in many forms for taking home or giving for the holidays, to curl up at the cozy fireplace with an e-reader tablet. Though surprisingly, no zombies? WTF?
Visiting the Jane Austen Centre of Bath
The Jane Austen exhibition centre is located at 40 Gay Street, just off Queen Square in central Bath a five minute walk from the Roman Baths. Open hours are every day from April to October from 9:45 am to 5:30 pm, with extended hours in July and August 9am to 6 pm, and in winter November to March 11am to 4:30pm Sunday to Friday and 9:45 to 5:30 on Saturdays. Last admission is an hour before closing. Admission prices for the exhibition are £8 for adults, £7 seniors, and £6 students. The Tea Room and Gift Shop do not require entry to the exhibition and are free to visit. Walking Tours of Jane Austin’s Bath are offered on weekends and Bank Holidays starting at 11 am, £12 for adults and £10 Concession, meeting at the Bath visitor’s center next to the abbey. © Bargain
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Jane Austen Centre
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SEE ALSO:
BATH'S ROMAN BATHS AND PUMP ROOM
BATH FASHION MUSEUM & ASSEMBLY ROOMS
STONEHENGE - NEOLITHIC MYSTERY OF WILTSHIRE
BRUNEL'S SS GREAT BRITAIN SHIP - BRISTOL
GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL - EDWARD II & HARRY POTTER
DID JANE AUSTEN AND MARY SHELLEY EVER MEET?
