How to find it.. It was removed week ending 28th March
The brass plaque to Jane Austen was sited in a small, railed and locked garden, behind the Abbey Gateway. The plaque was installed in March 2006 by Reading and District Steadfast Association (Steadfast Associations are supporters and former members of the Boys Brigade) and unveiled by H.H. Judge Spence.
The plaque was difficult to find and the text difficult to read. It was set at the wrong side of the Gateway as the school Jane attended adjoined the East side of the Gateway.
During 2025, the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, it will be replaced by a more accessible and more correctly located plaque. It will be more suitable for the building, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It will be unveiled at Waterfest on 28 June 2025.
Why a plaque to Jane Austen in Reading?
Jane Austen (1775-1817), the author, her sister Cassandra and her cousin Jane Cooper attended the Reading Ladies’ Boarding School for 18 months between 1785 to 1786.
The school was also called Mrs Latournelle’s School and later the Abbey House School.
The schoolhouse, which adjoined the Abbey Gateway, was over 70 feet long, on two storeys plus attics (as may be seen in the image). Some of the smaller rooms were dormitories with four or six beds. The school also occupied the eastern half of the Abbey Gateway.
The ownership of the gateway was divided between the Blagrave and Vansittart families until 1860, when both parts were bought by Reading Corporation.
The school was chosen due to family ties to the Thames Valley and their social and financial circumstances.
The father of Jane’s cousin, Dr Cooper, was appointed Rector of Sonning in July 1784,
Jane’s father, Mr Austen was the rector of Steventon, Hants. He relied for much of his income from farming the parish glebe lands. The severe winter of 1785-6 affected his agricultural income and he was in financial difficulties. Mrs Austen’s letter, written to a niece on New Year’s Eve 1786, refers to ‘my two Girls, who have now quite left school. The school
The school, run by a Mrs Latournelle, operated between 1755 and 1794, when it went bankrupt.
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