READING is set to mark a quarter of a millennium since the birth of one of the most celebrated literary icons.
The town will hold a number of events next year, which is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen.
As well as penning great works of literature including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma, Austen also studied in Reading during her childhood.
From the age of 9, she spent 18 months at a school based in the former gateway of the medieval Reading Abbey, Reading Ladies Boarding School, along with her elder sister, Cassandra, and cousin Jane, between the summer of 1785 and December 1786.
It is thought that when she describes Mrs Goddard’s School in her work, Emma, she is recalling her own school.
She describes: “a real old-fashioned boarding school, where a reasonable quantity of accomplishments were sold at a reasonable price, and where girls might be sent to be out of the way and scramble themselves into a little education, without any danger of coming back prodigies.”
She began penning serious works shortly after leaving the school.
Many of Austen’s family also lived in the villages around Reading.
Next year, Reading Museum is set to mark the anniversary with guided visits to her school room every Saturday from April through October, as part of its Abbey Quarter tours.
There will also be a series of special events every Wednesday from May to June 2025, including a series of talks, tours, and workshops, organised by the museum, celebrating Austen and her time in Reading.
There will also be an Austen-themed show based on the PD James novel, Death Comes to Pemberley, which has its world premier at The Mill in Sonning, from May 1.
The Roseate hotel, located next door to the site of Jane Austen’s school, is also hosting a series of tea afternoons featuring Georgian-era recipes through May and June.
Basildon Park, which became the home of Mr Bingley–Netherfield–in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, will hold a special exhibition and showcases of its other media appearances.
Full details of Reading Museum’s series of events are available via: readingmuseum.org.uk/jane-austen-250-2025.
More information about Death Comes to Pemberley at The Mill is available via: millatsonning.com/shows/death-comes-to-pemberley/.
More details about Austen-themed events taking place at The Roseate are available via: roseatehotels.com/reading/theroseate/
Information about the events being held by The National Trust at Basildon Park is available via: nationaltrust.org.uk
