Until December 2025
Venue: Reading Abbey Quarter
Celebrate Jane Austen's 250th Birthday in 2025 and visit her school!
2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and we’ll be celebrating throughout the year. Reading has many connections to Jane Austen and her family. Reading Museum cares for the historic Abbey Gateway where Jane and her sister Cassandra attended the Reading Ladies Boarding School in 1785-1786. The school is often cited as the inspiration for Austen’s Mrs Goddard’s School in Emma. You can visit by booking a guided tour or one of our talks below.
Visit Jane's Austen's historic school
Visit Jane Austen's school inside the medieval Abbey Gateway.
The gateway has a small pop-up exhibition about Jane Austen and her links to Reading in the Abbey Gateway. The exhibition has been researched, edited and designed by English Literature and Typography students at the University of Reading.
Forthcoming Special Event - BOOK NOW
On Tuesday 16th December we are holding a Welcome to Jane Austen's School event inside the Abbey Gateway on Jane Austen's birthday - you can book a time slot now for your visit.
Inside the historic Abbey Gateway, book an exclusive Abbey Quarter tour to visit!
Jane Austen 250 display devised and designed by students at the University of Reading, book an Abbey Quarter tour to view the displays
Group tours
Groups can book special private tours of the Abbey Quarter and Gateway, find out more on our group visits page.
Learn more about Jane Austen 250 celebrations throughout Reading and at The Museum of English Rural Life, including Austen's links to rural England.
We are collaborating with Jane Austen's House, Museums Partnership Reading, Reading Borough Libraries, Reading Civic Society, REDA, Roseate Hotel and University of Reading.
Past Events
We held a series of special talks and workshops in 2025, as well as weekly tours between April and October:
- Wednesday 7th May - Talk: Jane Austen and the local connection
- Saturday 10th May - Talk - Jane Austen, From the Writing Table to the World with The Director of Jane Austen’s House, Lizzie Dunford.
- Wednesday 14 May - Talk: A day in the life of a regency Lady
- Wednesday 21 May - Talk: Jane Austen 250 and the New Localism
- Wednesday 4 June - Workshop: Inspired by Nature - Natural Ink Making with Oak Galls
- Wednesday 11 June - Talk: Scrambling into a little education- the story of Jane Austen’s schooldays in Reading.
- Wednesday 18 June - Talk: The Georgian Dining Experience
- Saturday 13 September - Abbey Gateway drop-in for Heritage Open days
- Sunday 28 September - special Sunday Abbey Quarter tour
