Steventon Rectory - birthplace and first home of Jane Austen
Rectory
Archaeology
Archaeology
Although the birthplace of the authoress Jane Austen is "universally" known its disappearance from the landscape has been long lamented. Instead it is left to the visitors' mind's eye, with the aid of sketch drawings, to conjure up an imaginary building within the empty scenic meadow.
Archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology
The Austen family moved into Steventon Rectory in 1768. Jane Austen was born there on 16th December 1775. It was to be her home for the next 25 years. The archaeological project interpretation concluded that the Rectory was a rural vernacular building of flint, brick, stone and tile. The architectural style was not ‘Georgian’ but that of a rural long rectangular ‘Farmhouse’.
Publication
Archaeology
Publication
Archaeology Greets Jane Austen by unearthing her birthplace and first home. Published 2017
by Deborah Charlton
Purchase by contacting: archaeobriton@gmail.com
CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF TIME, history AND archaeology
Artistic Interpretation
Artistic Interpretation
Artistic Interpretation
© 2025 Jo South. Used with permission.
Jane Austen's Places Series and Steventon Rectory by Jo South. Nothing is left of Hampshire’s famous author, Jane Austen's birthplace - Steventon Rectory. It is now just a peaceful field. But, the findings from the 2011 archaeological excavation, started a fascinating artistic endeavour to paint what the Rectory would have looked like. Allowing for careful artistic interpretation, this is the first historically informed representation, to date, of the Rectory in Jane Austen's time.
To find out more visit: www.josouth.co.uk/
3D Modelling
Artistic Interpretation
Artistic Interpretation
© 2025 Frank F. Lutz. Used with permission.
Virtual Steventon is the work of Frank Lutz, who uses three-dimensional modelling to explore what the Rectory might have looked like, based on current historical and archaeological research. The model is an artistic interpretation of the Rectory and its setting, drawing on a range of primary sources, including the Glebe Plan of 1821, evidence from the 2011 archaeological excavation of the Rectory site, Austen family letters and memoirs, and other historical materials.
To view: www.jasna.org/austen/austen-places/virtual-steventon/
Contact
Questions or Comments
For inquiries into my work, please use the form to contact me. I thank you for your interest, and I will do my best to get back to you soon! D.C.
Archaeo Briton
