Pride and Prejudice

“Under Mrs Rushworth’s guidance were shown through a number of rooms, all lofty, and many large, and amply furnished in the taste of fifty years back, with shining floors, solid mahogany, rich damask, marble, gilding, and carving, each handsome in its way.

Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire offers a compelling journey into the world that inspired one of Jane’s most impressive houses, Sotherton in Mansfield Park.

This splendid estate, situated beside the tranquil River Avon, and invites visitors to step back in time and experience the elegance and serenity that shaped Jane’s literary imagination.

For over four centuries, Stoneleigh Abbey was the residence of Jane Austen’s maternal relatives, the distinguished Leigh family. Jane’s mother, Cassandra Leigh, was related to the Brydges family (Dukes of Chandos), a family with notable titles and wealthy estates in Warwickshire. Her father was one of thirteen children, so there were many cousins and distant relations to inherit, as usual by male family members.

In August 1806, Jane, along with her sister and mother, stayed at the Abbey. They made the journey from Adlestrop Rectory with Mrs Austen’s cousin, Reverend Thomas Leigh. The news of Mary Leigh’s death had revealed news of a potential inheritance.

This prompted Reverend Thomas to consider claiming the estate, and he invited the Austen ladies to accompany him.

Jane would have arrived at Stoneleigh in a carriage, driven down the long lane with large oak trees planted evenly down either side. She passed through the arched gate to come upon the grandeur of the large house with its 46 windows facing the evening sun.

Flanked by the River Avon and surrounded by fields and forests as far as the eye could see, it’s an impressive sight.

Inside, the layout of the house and furniture would have looked similar and reflected the family’s wealth. A large ballroom overlooks the lawn where balls were held and many rooms for guests to stay in. The library in a wing of the house is large and cosy, and is one of the most special rooms in the house.

It must have been easy to get lost inside, as Mrs Austen noted in a letter, ‘The house is larger than I could have supposed. We cannot find our way about it.’

As the ladies became more comfortable, Jane began with prayers each morning in the handsome chapel, an experience that would later influence her writing of Mansfield Park.

Fanny’s imagination had prepared her for something grander than a mere spacious, oblong room, fitted up for the purpose of devotion: with nothing more striking or more solemn than the profusion of mahogany, and the crimson velvet cushions appearing over the ledge of the family gallery above.

Their visit also impressed Mrs Austen. She wrote a long letter to her sister-in-law Mary where she touches on praying in the chapel, and then talks a lot more about the sumptuous food for breakfast!

We say our prayers in a handsome chapel, of which the pulpit is now hung with black. Then follows breakfast, consisting of chocolate, coffee, and tea, plum cake, pound cake, hot rolls, cold rolls, bread and butter, and dry toast for me.

Jane Austen’s Visit

The wonderful thing about visiting Stoneleigh is that Jane stayed here for a time and wrote it into her novel Mansfield Park. In the novel, the party visit Sotherton and give their opinions about the private chapel with the same crimson velvet cushions.

Jane rarely used real places and people, which shows the impact Stoneleigh had on her. It must have been a shock to discover that her mother’s relations were very wealthy and lived in huge houses such as Stoneleigh.

The timing of this visit was poignant. It came after the death of Jane’s father, when the Austen ladies had left Bath and were on their way to Southampton to share a home with Frank and his wife Mary. In Jane’s commentary in Mansfield Park, she gives the view that people say they follow God’s work, though do not act in a charitable way.

A Difficult Inheritance

There were two lines of inheritance from Mary Leigh’s will. One family member inherited Adlestrop and its lands, and the other Stoneleigh and its lands which was much more valuable. Mar y Leigh lived at the estate until she died as the male line of the family had died out.

There were three claimants, Rev Thomas Leigh who Mrs Austen and Jane accompanied, his nephew James Henry Leigh, squire of Adlestrop, and James Leigh Perrot (Jane’s uncle from Bath). Rev Thomas Leigh’s won his claim, and left Stoneleigh in trust to pass to his nephew upon his death. It was hoped that Mrs Austen would inherit something from her cousin, however, this seems not to have happened.

Jane must have felt it unjust that her mother, Mrs Austen, had to leave her relatives at Stoneleigh with no inheritance at all, and live with limited means without Mr Austen’s pension with her son and his wife.

Your Visit

Today, you can visit Stoneleigh Abbey on a timed tour with a guide. You can buy this in advance on the website or when you arrive. During the tour of house you will see many family portraits and Mrs Austen’s family tree. You will also visit to the family chapel, where the rich crimson velvet cushions and elegant mahogany details are as Jane described, offering a timeless link into her world.

The Orangery on the far side of the house is now a cafe, with beautiful views over the river and surrounding countryside. This is a lovely place to enjoy a cup of tea and cake whilst waiting or when you have finished your tour.

Planning Your Journey

Stoneleigh is in the county of Warwickshire, just southeast of Birmingham. Unfortunately, the beautiful village of Stoneleigh with its thatched cottages is affected by construction of the failed HS2 rail project. There are many roadworks, hills being dug into, and roads closed. I was genuinely shocked, so please check your route before you set out and follow the detour signs. The old village is worth seeing, as it’s so quintessentially English and even has a Community Orchard.

LINKS:

Book your ticket through the Stoneleigh website

Find out some lesser known facts about Mansfield Park

Read Jane Austen & Adlestrop: Her Other Family by Victoria Huxley

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Mrs Austen’s Letter to Mary (her daughter-in-law.) dated 13 August 1806

MY DEAR MARY, – The very day after I wrote you my last letter, Mr Hill wrote his intention of being at Adlestrop with Mrs Hill on Monday, the 4th, and his wish that Mr Leigh and family should return with him to Stoneleigh the following day, as there was much business for the executors awaiting them at the Abbey, and he was hurried for time.  All this accordingly took place, and here we found ourselves on Tuesday (that is yesterday night) eating fish, venison, and all manner of good things, in a large and noble parlour, hung round with family portraits. 

The house is larger than I could have supposed. We cannot find our way about it – I mean the best part; as to the offices, which were the Abbey, Mr. Leigh almost despairs of ever finding his way about them. I have proposed his setting up direction posts at the angles.  I had expected to find everything about the place very fine and all that, but I had no idea of its being so beautiful.  I had pictured to myself long avenues, dark rookeries, and dismal yew trees, but here are no such dismal things. The Avon runs near the house, amidst green meadows, bounded by large and beautiful woods, full of delightful walks.

“At nine in the morning we say our prayers in a handsome chapel, of which the pulpit, &c. &c., is now hung with black. Then follows breakfast, consisting of chocolate, coffee, and tea, plum cake, pound cake, hot rolls, cold rolls, bread and butter, and dry toast for me. The house steward, a fine, large, respectable-looking man, orders all these matters. Mr. Leigh and Mr. Hill are busy a great part of the morning. We walk a good deal, for the woods are impenetrable to the sun, even in the middle of an August day. I do not fail to spend some part of every day in the kitchen garden, where the quantity of small fruit exceeds anything you can form an idea of. This large family, with the assistance of a great many blackbirds and thrushes, cannot prevent it from rotting on the trees. The gardens contain four acres and a half. The ponds supply excellent fish, the park excellent venison; there is great quantity of rabbits, pigeons, and all sorts of poultry. There is a delightful dairy, where is made butter, good Warwickshire cheese and cream ditto. One manservant is called the baker, and does nothing but brew and bake. The number of casks in the strong-beer cellar is beyond imagination; those in the small-beer cellar bear no proportion, though, by the bye, the small beer might be called ale without misnomer. This is an odd sort of letter. I write just as things come into my head, a bit now and a bit then.

Now I wish to give you some idea of the inside of this vast house – first premising that there are forty-five windows in front, which is quite straight, with a flat roof, fifteen in a row. You go up a considerable flight of steps to the door, for some of the offices are underground, and enter a large hall. On the right hand is the dining-room and within that the breakfast-room, where we generally sit; and reason good, ’tis the only room besides the chapel, which looks towards the view. On the left hand of the hall is the best drawing-room and within a smaller one. These rooms are rather gloomy with brown wainscot and dark crimson furniture, so we never use them except to walk through to the old picture gallery. Behind the smaller drawing-room is the state-bedchamber – an alarming apartment, with its high, dark crimson velvet bed, just fit for an heroine. The old gallery opens into it. Behind the hall and parlours there is a passage all across the house, three staircases and two small sitting-rooms. There are twenty-six bedchambers in the new part of the house and a great many, some very good ones, in the old.

There is also another gallery, fitted up with modern prints on a buff paper, and a large billiard-room. Every part of the house and offices is kept so clean, that were you to cut your finger I do not think you could find a cobweb to wrap it up in. I need not have written this long letter, for I have a presentiment that if these good people live until next year you will see it all with your own eyes.

Our visit has been a most pleasant one. We all seem in good humour, disposed to be pleased and endeavouring to be agreeable, and I hope we succeed. Poor Lady Saye and Sele, to be sure, is rather tormenting, though sometimes amusing, and affords Jane many a good laugh, but she fatigues me sadly on the whole. To-morrow we depart. We have seen the remains of Kenilworth, which afforded us much entertainment, and I expect still more from the sight of Warwick Castle, which we are going to see to-day. The Hills are gone, and my cousin, George Cook, is come. A Mr. Holt Leigh was here yesterday and gave us all franks. He is member for, and lives at, Wigan in Lancashire, and is a great friend of young Mr. Leigh’s, and I believe a distant cousin. He is a single man on the wrong side of forty, chatty and well-bred and has a large estate. There are so many legacies to pay and so many demands that I do not think Mr. Leigh will find that he has more money than he knows what to do with this year, whatever he may do next. The funeral expenses, proving the will, and putting the servants in both houses in mourning must come to a considerable sum; there were eighteen men servants.