A Georgian Gem

The White Horse Inn dates back to 1702.

The small market town of Howden in Yorkshire is a living witness to life in Jane Austen's day.  Although Howden is famous for its medieval Minster, many eighteenth and early nineteenth century houses, shops and coaching inns have also survived.

Eighteenth century shops, Marketplace.

As you explore this bustling town you can imagine what it might have been like to go shopping in Austen's England.

Wellington Hotel, formerly the White Hart Inn.

Of course you must somehow erase the noise of the cars and buses from your mind, and imagine them replaced with the clip-clop of horses, the rattle of wheels and the blast of a coachman's horn as he sweeps into a busy innyard.                                            

Bridgegate, Howden - note arched entrance.

The former C.18th century workhouse.

A Visit to Winchester

I've visited Winchester a couple of times before, but recently I paid my first visit to the City Mill. There's been a mill on this site since medieval times; it was rebuilt in 1744, and was in use until the twentieth century.  It has recently been restored by the National Trust, and you can watch flour being ground the traditional way. You can even buy some of the flour and have a go at making your own when you get home.  Otters play on the River Itchen, which powers the machinery, at night when the city is asleep.

We also walked past the house where Jane Austen spent her final days in 1817 (now a private residence). If you're visiting her native county of Hampshire, you might like to download a trail leaflet from here.

Images: Winchester City Mill, and the house in College St where Austen died.

© Sue Wilkes.

A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England

Hello to all Jane Austen fans!  This blog will be dedicated to daily life in late Georgian and Regency England, and news about Jane Austen, her works, life and times.

My new book, A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England, will be published by Pen & Sword's new History imprint in October 2014.

Nearer publication date, I'll be posting news about the book, but in the meantime, here's a taster of the proposed blurb:

'Immerse yourself in the vanished world inhabited by Austen’s contemporaries. Packed with detail, and anecdotes, this is an intimate exploration of how the middle and upper classes lived from 1775, the year of Austen’s birth, to Jane’s death in 1817. Sue Wilkes skilfully conjures up all aspects of daily life within the period, drawing on contemporary diaries, illustrations, letters, novels, travel literature and archives'. 

Were all unmarried affluent men really 'in want of a wife'?

Where would a young lady seek adventures?

Would ‘taking the waters’ at Bath and other spas kill or cure you?

Was Lizzy Bennet bitten by bed-bugs while travelling?

What would you wear to a country ball, or a dance at Almack’s?

Would Mr Darcy have worn a corset?

What hidden horrors lurked in elegant Regency houses?

Put on your dancing gloves and embrace a lost era of corsets and courtship! 

     Note for Readers: The book isn’t a modern-day tourist guide to places associated with Jane Austen in England – instead you will be ‘visiting’ Austen’s world as she knew it. 

    If you'd like to find out more about my other work, do visit my blog on social history and family history at Sue Wilkes.