Jane Austen Statue

Jane Austen is such a groundbreaking English author that it’s only fitting that she be commemorated in bronze near her birthplace in Basingstoke. For all of those Austenites out there, this is a place to visit in addition to her grave in Winchester Cathedral and the house where she lived from 1809 to 1817 in Chawton, which now serves as a museum.

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, a village just outside of Basingstoke where her father served as a rector. Today you can find a teeny tiny museum dedicated to Austen inside an old telephone box in Steventon. During her 25 years living in Steventon, Austen would frequent Basingstoke for dances at the assembly rooms in Market Square, located in what is now a bank within view of her statue.