Farringdon is a quaint village a mile from Chawton with several thatched cottages, which were around at the time of Jane Austen. I took a walk around Farringdon back in early September and am taking you along, strolling the village roads so familiar to Jane Austen.
The Austens often visited their close friends, the Benn family, in Farringdon.
Reverend John Benn held the living of All Saints Church at Farringdon from 1797 to 1857. Interestingly, the famous naturalist, Gilbert White, was also curate of this church for some time before John Benn.
John Benn was married to Elizabeth Benn, and they appear to have had a large family. Jane Austen wrote to her niece, Fanny Knight, in 1817, lamenting the fate of her niece, Anna, who was pregnant again: "Poor Animal, she will be worn out before she is thirty. - I am very sorry for her...I am quite tired of so many Children.-Mrs Benn has a 13th".
The Austens and the Benns often visited each other, and on the 28th May, 1811, Jane writes to Cassandra about John Benn's daughter, Harriet: "Harriet Benn sleeps at the Great House to-night and spends to-morrow with us; and the plan is that we should all walk with her to drink tea at Faringdon".
On the 31st May, Jane writes: "Harriot and Eliz. dined here yesterday, & we walked back with them to Tea; - not my Mother - she has a cold which affects her in the usual way". It is interesting to spot Jane Austen vary her spelling of the name of Harriet in two subsequent letters.
You may remember my blog about the impoverished spinster, Miss Benn, who lived in the the thatched cottage close to Jane Austen's home in Chawton? Mary Benn was the younger, unmarried sister of John Benn, who is believed to have been an inspiration for the character of Miss Bates. Jane Austen often wrote about her in her letters and felt sorry for her reduced circumstances, having to live in a damp, dilapidated home at the mercy of well-wishing friends and relatives. Jane and Cassandra often invited her to Chawton cottage and gave her clothes as presents. She was also the first person besides the Austen family to listen to Jane Austen read Pride and Prejudice in 1813, and according to Jane, she was "amused" and "does seem to admire Elizabeth".
I hope you have enjoyed my walk around Upper and Lower Farringdon - I recommend walking from Chawton to Farringdon on a lovely day and taking in the quaint, historic villages and lush, green fields on the way.
Click here for a link to a walking tour from Chawton to Farringdon: https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryside/walking/chawtontofarringdon
References:
https://austenised.blogspot.com/2012/10/miss-benn-inspiration-for-miss-bates.html
Le Faye, Deirdre. (2011) Jane Austen's Letters. Fourth Edition. OUP.