Adlestrop Extract

ExtracT from chapter 31

1794: Adlestrop.

Photo: Public Road, Daylesford, Gloucestershire.

Adlestrop was the place where Mrs Austen’s father had been born. She had visited there often as a young girl, but had not returned at all during her thirty-one years of marriage. She was delighted to find the local roads were little changed from her youthful recollections and was as excited as a child to recount her memories to her daughters along the way.

“Now remember, you must not seem overbearing, but neither must you be too reserved,” she babbled nervously when they were nearly there. “We want to be spoken of for the right reasons after we leave, not the wrong ones. Our hosts must be left with a desire to know you some more.”

“Yes, Mama,” chorused the girls obligingly, bored from the same message they had heard multiple times before.

The three females were to stay in the rectory with Mrs Austen’s cousin, Reverend Thomas Leigh. He was a likeable man and not a complete stranger to the girls; they had met him a few times before when he had called in at Steventon on his travels. He was a firm favourite with their brothers who always followed him about, as it was his custom before he left to present them each with a coin to spend as they wished. He had even called in on the girls when they were at school in Reading with Jane Cooper and gifted them each a guinea.

Photo: The old rectory, Adlestrop, Gloucestershire.

“Come, come, make yourself at home,” he urged, ushering them into a comfortable parlour the minute they arrived. “Refreshments are already laid out, as you see. I thought you might be hungry after your long journey."

Reverend Leigh was married to Mary, who was as congenial as he was, and his unmarried sister, Elizabeth, lived with them too. Both women were old friends of Mrs Austen from her youth and they had all remained in contact by letter over the ensuing years; Reverend Leigh was Henry Austen’s godfather, and Elizabeth Leigh was godmother to Cassandra.

Author's own photo.

In her eagerness to catch up on the latest gossip, Mrs Austen became distracted with her friends, leaving Cassandra and Jane to eat the finger sandwiches and fancy cakes without censure. They were entertained by the humorous anecdotes of the flamboyant Reverend Leigh and enjoyed themselves immensely.

The church of St Mary Magdalene was opposite the house, on a slope overlooking the street. It was of sturdy build that seemed to offer the same hearty and friendly welcome that mirrored their host. It was straight and solid, made from amber-coloured stone with an attractively maintained pathway leading up to its door. Reverend Leigh told the girls he had been rector there for a very long time.

Photo: St. Mary Magdalene Church, Adlestrop, Gloucestershire.

Photo: St. Mary Magdalene Church, Adlestrop, Gloucestershire.

“Yes, I remember,” recalled Mrs Austen when they went inside after tea. “I remember when you were presented with the living, just before George took up his own in Steventon, even before we were married.”

She gazed around the neat and bright church in awe, her head tilting upwards towards the high rafters on the ceiling. Sunlight streamed through the window to brighten her face. “So long ago, and yet it feels like no time at all that I stood here last!”

Relations in the subsequent years between the different strands of the Leigh family had been difficult. There was a question over who was to inherit the large ancestral seat of Stoneleigh Abbey. Its current resident had no heir, nor was likely to produce one, and there had been much infighting amongst the younger Leigh generation to claim it for themselves. Mrs Austen’s brother, James Leigh-Perrot, had made himself a nuisance with his own claims and Mrs Austen had been worried that this may taint the way she was received. But her old friends placed no blame on her at all; they were used to the squabbles and preferred not to dwell on such displeasure.

“I see no likelihood of Stoneleigh becoming imminently vacant,” stated Elizabeth plainly. “And none of us know what situation we will find ourselves in a few years from now. Let us value the comforts we have today and leave the future to unfold as it will.”

Photo: Berrington Hall, Herefordshire.

Photo: Chawton House, Hampshire.

The Leighs of Adlestrop really were the most delightful of hosts and nothing was too much trouble for their guests, whom they treated like royalty. Reverend Leigh was a theatrical character with an elaborate personality and everyone he met on the street was his friend.

In years gone by, he had been the guardian of a boy who was another of Mrs Austen’s relatives, and who had since grown up to inherit Adlestrop Park, the large estate that bordered the church. Consequently, Mrs Austen and her daughters were invited to dine there too and enjoy its magnificently landscaped gardens.

Warren and Marian Hastings’ home of Daylesford House was only a short walk away, and a happy day was spent in their company exploring their luxurious mansion and marvelling over the exotic fruits they were attempting to grow in the orangery.

Mrs Austen was most optimistic when she returned home to her husband. Her cousin had promised that he would follow up on her request to investigate Frank’s prospects, and Mr Hastings had told her that he would do the same. The girls had made the best of impressions; the only downside being that Jane had still not found a suitable suitor.

Photo: Lyme Park, Stockport, Cheshire.