Northanger Abbey

I am not sure if even £10, 000 a year would pay the rent for Northanger Abbey, or indeed Mansfield park (see extra) or Emma or any of the Austen houses in Halstead where I was this afternoon. Halstead was long noted for the presence of a silk mill owned by Samuel Courtauld, one of whose descendants went on to found the famous Courtauld Institute of Art in London. And a number of the houses that the Courtaulds built for their workers in the 1920s are apparently named after Jane Austen novels or characters.


The information is tantalizingly incomplete. It seems that no one knows why the Courtaulds chose Austen-related names for their buildings, although by 1926, when the construction apparently began, early Austen-mania was in full swing.

I have read with interest the crowd funding scheme for Blip.  I  will be supporting it and I would encourage anyone else who is considering doing the same to mention the fact as much as possible in blips and comments so as to help to build a bit of momentum.