Tuesday December 16th would have been Jane Austen’s 250th birthday so a few of us from Earley NWR visited Reading Abbey Gatehouse which was specially open for the occasion. Three flights of very steep stairs brought us out into a Victorian schoolroom, where we recognised some of the artefacts from our own school days. At one time the gatehouse was part of Reading Ladies Boarding School which Jane and her sister, Cassandra, attended for about 18 months from 1785-1786. Originally the gateway was part of the Abbey founded in the 12th century by Henry 1st and divided the private and public areas of the Abbey.
