How to find it
The brass plaque to Jane Austen is 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.
Unfortunately the plaque is difficult to find and the text is difficult to read.
During 2025, the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, it is planned to replace the plaque, in a different position, with something more suitable for the building, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Why a plaque to Jane Austen in Reading?
Jane Austen (1775-1817), the author, and her sister Cassandra attended the Reading Ladies’ Boarding School for 18 months between 1785 to 1786.
The schoolhouse adjoined the Abbey Gateway and 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. Each bed was shared by two girls and Cassandra and Jane almost certainly slept together. The school also occupied the eastern half of the Abbey Gateway. The western half was in separate ownership 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.
Mr Austen, who was appointed Rector of Sonning in July 1784, 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 La Tournelle, operated between 1755 and 1794, when it went bankrupt.
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