Overton in Jane Austen's Time Exhibition in a Grade II* Listed Norman Chapel, Quidhampton, Overton
Station Road, Overton, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG25 3EA
Jane Austen was born in 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, near Overton. This corner of Hampshire was Jane’s home for her first 25 years and where she wrote early versions of Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and Northanger Abbey.
Located just 2.5 miles from Jane Austen’s home in Steventon, Overton was described as a ‘neat little town’ in Jane Austen’s time. The New Inn in Overton was the Austen family’s post office and all Jane Austen’s letters from Steventon are postmarked Overton and addressed Steventon near Overton. Jane’s brother, James Austen, became curate at Overton in 1790, living firstly in Overton Vicarage and then, after marrying in 1792, moving to Court House, which still stands, as it did in Jane Austen’s time on a hill next to the church.
As well as Jane’s curate brother, her father, George Austen, the rector of Steventon, occasionally also performed services at St Mary’s Church in Overton. With its grocers, tailors, dressmaker, shoemakers, the local apothecary amongst its many traders, Overton was the closest place to the Austens' home for the necessities of life. Housed in a Grade II* Norman chapel which had fallen into disuse by the 17th century, the Overton in Jane Austen’s Time exhibition explores the ‘neat little town’ that Jane knew. Jane’s dear friend Mrs Lefroy describes an afternoon having fun in the river at Quidhampton and drinking ‘tea in the Alcove’. Could she mean the chapel?
Station Road, Overton, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG25 3EA