Jane Austen’s school room in Reading to open for 250th anniversary celebrations of the writer’s birth

In 2025, as part of the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, her former school room in Reading’s Abbey Quarter, often cited as the inspiration for Austen’s Mr Goddard’s School in Emma, will open for a series of special events and tours.

When she was just nine years old, Jane Austen spent 18 months at school in Reading. Based in the former Gateway of the medieval Reading Abbey, Reading Ladies Boarding School became home to Jane, her elder sister Cassandra and cousin Jane between the summer of 1785 and December 1786.

In 2025, Reading Museum will be putting on a series of events, tours and visits to the Abbey Gateway and Reading Abbey Quarter to tell the story of Jane’s time at school here as part of Reading’s Jane Austen 250 celebrations, which also include visits to the film location for Pride and Prejudice - the National Trust’s Basildon Park, a Mill at Sonning theatrical world premiere of Death Comes to Pemberley, based on a PD James novel, as well as guided walks, tours and talks.

Jane Austen’s mother is known to have said: “Jane was too young to make her going to school at all necessary... (but) she would go with Cassandra; if Cassandra’s head had been going to be cut off Jane would have hers cut off too.” So, Mr Austen paid £37 19s per girl per half year which would have included board, tuition, washing, materials and dancing lessons, as was the norm, and the three cousins headed off to school in Reading in July 1785.

Jane mentions her school days only once in her letters, ‘I could die of laughter at it as they used to say at School’, but it is widely thought that when she describes Mrs Goddard’s School in Emma she is recalling her own school: “a real old-fashioned Boarding school, where a reasonable quantity of accomplishments were sold at a reasonable price, and where girls might be sent to be out of the way and scramble themselves into a little education, without any danger of coming back prodigies”.

Many of Jane Austen’s family lived in the villages around Reading and so Reading was a logical choice as a schooling destination for her. Within a short period of leaving Reading, the twelve-year old Jane was writing seriously.

Visit Jane Austen’s School Room in Reading in 2025

Guided visits to her school room every Saturday from April to October 2025 as part of Reading Museum’s Abbey Quarter tours. Group tours are also available on other days by arrangement.

There will also be a series of special events every Wednesday in May & June 2025. Jane Austen Wednesdays are a series of talks, tours and workshops organised by Reading Museum celebrating Jane Austen and her time in Reading.

Visit the Reading Museum website

Death Comes to Pemberley

The world premiere of Death Comes to Pemberley, a Jane Austen themed show based on a PD James novel, opens in 2025 just outside Reading. Pemberley was of course home to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Venue: The Mill at Sonning. 1 May – 28 June 2025. Dinner and Show package.

Visit The Mill at Sonning website

Visit the location of 2005’s Pride and Prejudice

The National Trust’s Basildon Park became Netherfield, the suitable grand home of Mr Bingley, in the 2005 film of Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. The 18th mansion house and estate is located just outside Reading and has a special exhibition, Visions Unreel, showcasing the many films and TV series Basildon Park has played a role in, including many period dramas.

Visit the Basildon Park website

Jane Austen Afternoon Tea

The 5-star Roseate Reading Hotel, located next door to Jane Austen’s schoolroom will be putting on special Jane Austen Afternoon Teas throughout May and June 2025. Taking inspiration from a series of Georgian-period recipes, the hotel will be providing a lavish Afternoon Tea for Austen fans.

The Roseate will also be offering a special Jane Austen rate for a visit to its two Jane Austen-linked hotels in Bath and Reading.