Not long ago, on 16th December 2025, we celebrated the 250th birthday of our most celebrated female novelist of all time; Jane Austen. Although she was born, and lived in Hampshire, as well as some time in Bath, she is connected to Kent, not only through Godmersham – the place shown on the £10 note – but with many other places in the county. There is even a strong hint, in one of her letters, that she had been travelling through my home village of Charing!
Jane’s family had their origins in Horsmonden, which became the cradle of the Austen family. Here, her forebears, unknowingly, laid the foundations, not only of her immediate family and direct ancestral line, but also of the Knights of Godmersham, which were to supply Jane with plenty of subject material for her stories.
Those extended family connections came in very handy for Jane and her family, because it, firstly, brought her father a living as a rector, as well as bringing her brother an inheritance, in form of Godmersham, and Chawton.
After her brother, Edward, who was eight years her senior, was introduced to, and identified as a potential heir, to the childless Knight couple, who were travelling around their estates, life would become very interesting for Jane. Also, for her siblings, and parents. Now, they were travelling, not only, to West Kent (Sevenoaks and surroundings), but also to places such as Godmersham to visit the Knights and their heir apparent, Edward. Edward had to learn all there was to know about leading a grand country estate.
The young Jane would collect plenty of impressions on her travels, visits and social interactions during the 1790s and early 1800s. She describes, in her surviving letters, many places in Kent, which she travelled through, and stayed on her journeys. For instance, when visiting her ‘West-Kent connections’, it is believed she travelled through Bromley on a stage coach, where she observed the changing of the horses. This, albeit small, observation made a believable description of a journey in her work: ‘Pride & Prejudice’.
Her great uncle Francis – a very prominent and wealthy Sevenoaks resident – had connections as an attorney to the grand estates around that part of the world. So, Jane most likely would have met the owners of Knole Park and Chevening. It is believed that the dowager lady Stanhope of Chevening was possibly the inspiration for Lady Catherine de Burgh of Rosings Park in Pride & Prejudice. Apparently, her character was well depicted in this most famous of Jane’s stories.
East Kent was usually approached via Watling Street (today’s A2) and many places, such as Dartford, Rochester, Sittingbourne and Ospringe are mentioned in her letters. Her father was ordained in Rochester Cathedral, so it can almost be assumed that Jane visited the city either with her parents or on her travels into East Kent. From Sittingbourne or Ospringe she was picked up or dropped off – usually by Daniel, the manservant – and brought to, or taken from Godmersham.
Her brother, Edward, married Elizabeth Bridges of Goodnestone, which is just a few miles east of Canterbury. They lived in nearby Rowling House for a few years before moving to Godmersham. They were able to move into the great mansion, because Edward’s adoptive father, Thomas Knight, died and his widow, Lady Catherine Knight moved to Whitefriars in Canterbury. Jane’s letters are full of her social interactions with the great families and other prominent residents around Canterbury, often meeting at Lady Knight’s place.
There is a myriad of places she would have either visited, or the families residing there would have met Jane socially. Places such as Provender House, which is open for tours from May; Norton Court, which is private, but open through the National Gardens Scheme. Also, Chilham, with its castle, and picturesque village, which was used in the 2005 Film; Emma. Jane would have known Ashford, where she went for assemblies, and Godington, where she knew the Toke Family. Nearby is Mersham le Hatch where Lady Catherine Knight, nee Knatchbull, came from; and Eastwell Manor, now a country hotel and Spa. The village of Lenham is also an interesting link, because this is where Edward Bridges – who asked Jane to marry him, although she turned him down, went on to settle as a rector, with his nervous wife! – This wife, it becomes clear, from Jane’s letters, is not liked by many people.
Jane had two seafaring brothers, and Kent is a place where they would be stationed, such as Ramsgate, where her brother Francis was part of the naval defence against Napoleon. But places known to her are not exhausted. Barham & Broome Park, Saltwood, Wrotham and of course Chatham Dockyard, where Fanny Palmer Austen lived with Jane’s brother Charles on the HMS Namur.
Kerstin is a qualified Blue Badge Guide in SE England Blue Badge Guide and SW England. She is also a Canterbury City Green Badge Guide, a qualified Windsor and Eton Guide. Click the link to view her profile.