Join me on my Sense and Sensibility tour of London!

A few weeks ago, I visited London and decided to tour some of the locations mentioned in Sense and Sensibility, which is largely set in London. 

At Jane Austen's time, central London was concentrated on a much smaller area, and the most fashionable district was between the Piccadilly, Mayfair and Hyde Park area. 

Portman Square was one of the fashionable spots to live. 

Portman Square

The square was built in the Georgian times by John Berkely Portman, MP, and it has a large garden in the middle and is surrounded by townhouses. Many of the original buildings were bombed during the war, but number 20, "Home House" (pictured above), remains. 

Upper Berkeley Street off Portman Square is where Elinor and Marianne stay with Mrs Jennings. Jane writes: “Since the death of her husband, who had traded with success in a less elegant part of the town, she had resided every winter in a house in one of the streets near Portman-square”.

Upper Berkeley Street 

Jane describes Mrs Jennings as follows: "Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton's mother, was a good-humoured, merry, fat, elderly woman, who talked a great deal, seemed very happy, and rather vulgar."  Prone to gossip and match-making, Mrs Jennings would have enjoyed staying at a fashionable location like this where she could socialise and form networks with other ladies of a similar class.

Mrs Jennings' town house is likely to have been a large, comfortable establishment. Jane writes: "The house was handsome, and handsomely fitted up, and the young ladies were immediately put in possession of a very comfortable apartment."

Upper Berkeley Street 

Mayfair is where the wealthiest residents lived, and it still remains an affluent part of the city where few people can afford to live. Logically, Jane Austen placed some of her wealthier characters in this part of the city. Hanover Square at the heart of Mayfair is where Mrs Jennings' daughter, Mrs Palmer, and Mr Palmer live. 

Hanover Square

The square is named after the House of Hanover, the German family of the king, and St George's Church here was a popular place for weddings. (Interestingly, the author of the Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe, is buried here too!). 

This square was built in the Georgian times and still retains a Georgian feel, although the square is now a mix of Georgian and more modern architecture. 

Hanover Square

We then move on to Conduit Street off Regent Street where Mrs Jennings' older daughter, Lady Middleton, stays with her husband, Sir John Middleton. 

Conduit Street 

Elinor and Marianne visit the Middletons here, and the two Miss Steeles stay here as guests of the Middletons. Conduit Street appears to have been a more desirable address than their own: "At this time the two Miss Steeles, lately arrived at their cousin's house in Bartlett Buildings, Holborn, presented themselves again before their more grand relations in Conduit and Berkeley Street; and were welcomed by them all with great cordiality."

Conduit Street 

It's rather difficult to photograph this street due to heavy traffic! It is a very busy street, and there are many designer shops (such as Vivienne Westwood) and other high-end stores here.

Moving on to Sackville Street off Piccadilly, which is another street built in the Georgian times that retains some of its period feel.

Sackville Street

41 Sackville Street is the location of the real-life Gray's jewellers, a fashionable and expensive jeweller at the time. Elinor and Marianne visit Gray's to exchange some of their mother's old jewellery, only to find the shop crowded and having to wait a long time for a young man to make his choice. This young man happens to be Robert Ferrars, the younger brother of Edward Ferrars. 

"But the correctness of his eye, and the delicacy of his taste, proved to be beyond his politeness. He was giving orders for a toothpick -case for himself, and till its size, shape, and ornaments were determined, all of which, after examining and debating for a quarter of an hour over every toothpick-case in the shop, were finally arranged by his own inventive fancy, he had no leisure to bestow any other attention on the two ladies, than what was comprised in three or four very broad stares." The girls' first impression of Robert Ferrars can't have been that favourable!

Old Bond Street

Around the corner, also situated off Piccadilly, is Old Bond Street where Elinor and Marianne often shop with Mrs Jennings and socialise. As in Jane Austen's time, this is still a designer shopping hub for the very wealthy and famous and a place "to be seen". While out shopping, Marianne is always watching out for Willoughby: "Wherever they went, she was evidently always on the watch. In Bond Street especially, where much of their business lay, her eyes were in constant inquiry; and in whatever shop the party were engaged, her mind was equally abstracted from everything actually before them, from all that interested and occupied the others."

Willoughby rents rooms in Bond Street and sometimes avoids Elinor and Marianne when he notices them out shopping. He later tells Elinor: "I watched you safely out of the house one morning, and left my name... You would be surprised how often I watched you, how often I was on the point of falling in with you. I have entered many a shop to avoid your sight, as the carriage drove by. Lodging as I did in Bond Street, there was hardly a day in which I did not catch the glimpse of one or other of you;  and nothing but the most constant watchfulness on my side, a most invariably prevailing desire to keep out of your sight, could have separated us so long. I avoided the Middletons as much as possible, as well as everybody else who was likely to prove an acquaintance in common." 

It is here at Old Bond Street that Willoughby writes the letter that breaks Marianne's heart and makes her very ill. 

 "Bond Street, January 

MY DEAR MADAM, -- I have just had the honour of receiving your letter, for which I beg to return my sincere acknowledgments. I am much concerned to find there was anything in my behaviour last night that did not meet your approbation; and though I am quite at a loss to discover in what point I could be so unfortunate as to offend you, I entreat your forgiveness of what I can assure you to have been perfectly unintentional. I shall never reflect on my former acquaintance with your family in Devonshire without the most grateful pleasure, and flatter myself it will not be broken by any mistake or misapprehension of my actions. My esteem for your whole family is very sincere; but if I have been so unfortunate as to give rise to a belief of more than I felt, or meant to express, I shall reproach myself for not having been more guarded in my professions of that esteem. That I should ever have meant more you will allow to be impossible, when you understand that my affections have been long engaged elsewhere, and it will not be many weeks, I believe, before this engagement is fulfilled. It is with great regret that I obey your commands of returning the letters, with which I have been honoured from you, and the lock of hair, which you so obligingly bestowed on me."

Opposite Bond Street is St James Street where Marianne's "saviour", Col Brandon stays when he is in town. This was a location of many gentlemen's clubs and close to St James' Palace, a royal residence. This was also close to Pall Mall, where Edward Ferrars has his lodgings. 

Finally, I end my tour at Kensington Gardens where Elinor goes for a walk with Mrs Jennings.

The sunken gardens.

Kensington Palace, which was used by the royal family then as it is now.

At Kensington Gardens, Elinor comes across the elder Miss Steele. At the insistence of Mrs Jennings, Miss Steele reveals a secret about her sister, Lucy's engagement to Edward Ferrars. This is a turning point in the novel, sending Elinor into emotional turmoil and forcing her to rethink her own hopes and dreams. 

Further reading:

My erstwhile tour of Jane Austen's London: https://austenised.blogspot.com/2010/08/in-footsteps-of-jane-in-london.html

Helpful guides to Jane Austen's London: 

Edwards, A-M. (1991) In the Steps of Jane Austen - Walking Tours of Austen's England. Jones Books. 

Quint, K. (2019) Jane Austen's England - A Travel Guide. ACC Art Books.