Sheila Woolf

Jane Austen’s Warwickshire Family

Sunday 5 October
The Court House Ballroom, Jury Street
10.30am

2025 sees nationwide celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of our greatest writers, Jane Austen. Chawton House in Hampshire will naturally be central to these celebrations, but what of the writer’s connection to Warwickshire?

Jane’s mother, born Cassandra Leigh, was related to the Leighs of Stoneleigh Abbey. In the summer of 1806 Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother stayed at Stoneleigh Abbey and made a variety of visits in the county. Examining the background of the Warwickshire family provides intriguing possibilities that Jane was deeply influenced by their stories in her writing: inheritance tangles, forbidden marriages and economic disputes all feature in her mother’s family’s life as well as in Jane’s novels. 

Join Sheila Woolf to discover new ways to view the novels through a Warwickshire looking glass.. 

Tickets £12.00
includes refreshments

BOOK TICKETS

← BACK TO EVENTS

History Festival at a Glance

Sunday 28 September

Festival Service

Monday 29 September

Tuesday 30 September

Wednesday 1 October

Thursday 2 October

Friday 3 October

Saturday 4 October

Sunday 5 October

Warwick University Talks

Saturday 15 November

Friday 21 November