Image Credits: Photos were taken by me, Allison Symes. Some images created in Book Brush using my images or those from Pixabay.
I had the opportunity recently to go and see a Jane Austen exhibition at the Dorset Museum in Dorchester. This year marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and there have been various events to commemorate this. (I am sure there will be more as we head to Miss Austen’s birthday in December and it would pay to keep an eye out for events at Winchester Cathedral, where Jane is buried).
The Dorchester exhibition looks at Jane Austen’s links with the sea. It was easy enough to book up tickets for the museum entrance fee online and, if you do this, you get 10% off and the ticket lasts for a year. I also think it’s good value at £13.50 with the discount (£15.00 if you pay on the door).
I went by train from Chandler’s Ford to Southampton Airport Parkway and then on to my final stop as Dorchester has the advantage of being on the main line from Waterloo to Weymouth and it is a pleasant journey.
Dorset Museum was easy to find, only a short ten minute walk from Dorchester South Station, and there were signposts. On the way there I spotted a plaque which noted another famous author, Thomas Hardy, who based his Casterbridge (as in The Mayor Of) on Dorchester.
The museum itself had a nice range of facilities and it is easily accessible for wheelchair users. See their Accessibility Page for more information (and I think having one of these is a great idea).
Jane Austen – Down To The Sea Exhibition – From The Dorset Museum Website
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth in 1775 this exhibition will explore the sea as a setting for her fictional worlds and its influence on her. She loved a dip in the sea, often went there on holiday and had two brothers in the navy. Focussing on the Dorset coastal towns Jane visited or wrote about it will explore leisure, fashion, entertainment and wellbeing at the seaside. The sea as a location for romance and danger will also be revealed through imagined and real-life experiences of the people who went there. In the exhibition space, costumes will show what cutting-edge fashion both men and women were expected to show off at the seaside, as well as a pink feather cockade worn by the author. A first edition of the novel Persuasion from the author’s house in Chawton will be on display as well as local Regency guidebooks, postcards, evening dresses, paintings and games highlighting how people spent their time on holiday by the sea.
Review of Jane Austen – Down To The Sea Exhibition
I am so pleased I went to this exhibition. I went years ago to Chawton (and must do so again at some point). I’ve also been to various things held at Winchester Cathedral but I hadn’t particularly associated Dorchester with Jane Austen. Lyme Regis, yes, and indeed when I am there and walking along The Cobb, I always think of her Persuasion. (That book is my second favourite of Austen’s – nothing can top Pride and Prejudice for me).
The exhibition was an eye opener here. Not only were there more references to the sea in other Austen novels, I got to see some of the social history associated with sea bathing at the time. There was a typical bathing machine which Austen would’ve used. This was pulled into and out of the sea by horses and gave privacy for changing. There were plenty of costumes on display and the one thought which occurred to me and those I was with (colleagues from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading – CIEP) was how tiny the waists were! Goodness knows how folk back then managed to eat anything…
The costumes, especially the dresses, were gorgeous though. There was plenty of background information relating to Austen and, if you so wanted, there were opportunities for dressing up. No. Not for the kids. For the adults. One of my colleagues did try on one of the dresses – she looked fabulous in it. (I suspect I would’ve been swamped if I’d tried it. Being on the short side those glorious gowns would’ve been on the long side!).
Other aspects to daily life were shown too. Jane Austen would have been a good needlewoman – she would have needed to have been.
There was also a lovely display of games which were played, some of which look so familiar. Spillikins, for example, I know as pick up sticks. It is an old game. Playing cards have been around for a long time too though the ones I saw here are bigger than the ones we’re used to now.
Did you know that, while Jane Austen did love sea bathing, her views on Weymouth were that it was a “shocking place”? I can’t say that has been my experience of a lovely beach town. Now had she said that about overcrowded Bournemouth…
One of the exhibits was a lovely writing desk with numbered drawers. You opened those drawers in order to find out what you would need to go to a social event, usually a ball. On the floor were instructions for how to waltz (though these were instructions for men given they were going forward in the dance. That reminded me of the quote associated with Ginger Rogers which talked about her “doing everything Fred Astaire does but in high heels and backwards”!).
The exhibition also had a fantastic array of gorgeous paintings, some in oil, which were a joy to study.
One of my favourite items though was a letter from Jane (on loan from Chawton) expressing her opinion about a play. She didn’t mince her witty words. Nor did she go with the perceived opinion of the play at the time.
Other Aspects to the Dorset Museum
On the way through to the Jane Austen exhibition, I spotted several examples of dinosaur and fossil exhibits. I didn’t know there had been crocodile like creatures in Dorset. Did you?
There were also some stunning Roman mosaics, which were in remarkably good condition. There is a separate Thomas Hardy section here too though that, and many other exhibits, I didn’t get chance to see but I do hope to get down to the museum again later in the year to catch up on those.
Conclusion
I thought the Jane Austen exhibition was good. While not huge, there was so much detail in what was there. There was also a lovely book of rules for dancing in one of the display cases. Apparently no dogs were to be allowed in. Well, I should hope not! For one thing, they are hopeless at the waltz…
The idea behind any exhibition like this is to give a look into the subject’s life and show something of the times in which they lived. This exhibition did this admirably. It continues to run until 14th September 2025. I highly recommend a visit here.
Related Posts:-
In the Footsteps of Jane Austen and Sarah Siddons by Allison Symes
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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