Chawton House is a grade ll* listed Elizabethan manor house in the village of Chawton in Hampshire. It was formerly the home of Jane Austen's brother, Edward Austen Knight, and is now a library and study centre.
In 1992 a 125-year lease on the house was purchased for £1.25 million by a foundation established by Sandra Lerner and Leonard Bosack, co-founders of Cisco Systems.
The house has been extensively restored and is now The Centre for the Study of Early English Women's Writing, 1600-1830, which runs study programmes in association with the University of Southampton.
It incorporates Chawton House Library, opened in 2003, a collection of over 9,000 books together with related original manuscripts, formerly located in Redmond, Washington, U.S.
Chawton House is the venue of the Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of the United Kingdom.
In 2003 the Jane Austen Society of North America held its 25th Anniversary AGM in the grounds of Chawton House.
Read more about Chawton House: The Walled Garden, Jane Austen's House, Visiting The House
Famous quotes containing the word house:
“You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.”
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931)