Jane Austen, one of England’s most famous and best loved female novelists, would have celebrated her 250th birthday on December 16 2025.
Did you know Brislington has a road named after a Jane Austen ancestor? Wyndham Crescen, Broomhill, is named after Anne Wyndham , second wife of Thomas Brydges (d. 1559 ) who was granted a lease on the site of Keynsham Abbey and lands in 1552 by Edward V1. The family owned land in Keynsham until the late 18th century. Jane Austen’s great grandmother was The Honourable Mary Brydges . Thomas Brydges was deputy lieutenant of the Tower of London and was present at the execution of Lady Jane Grey in 1554.
Henry James Austen (1771 – 1850), Jane Austen’s favourite brother, also had a Brislington connection. He joined the Oxfordshire Militia and became a paymaster . He earnt the respect and friendship of the Colonel of his regiment, Willian Gore – Langton (1760 – 1847) of Newton Park, Newton St Loe who was also Lord of the Manor of Brislington. Langton Court (demolished for the present Langton pub in Langton Court Road in 1902) was the family Brislington seat. The oldest part of the house dating from c1590 – 1610, still stands in Highworth Road. Born William Gore he married Bridget Langton in 1783 and assumed the name Gore -Langton.
The family held the Manor of Brislington from 1666 until c 1932. Newton Park is now the main campus of Bath Spa University. With help from Col Gore Langton, Henry Austen left the army in 1801 to begin a career as a financial agent and with a fellow officer formed Austen & Co, becoming a partner in three banks over the years. In 1816 he left the financial world and was ordained and became a Resident Curate in three parishes, one of which was St Andrews, Farnham, Surrey, where Revd Peter Dyson later became vicar after being priest in charge of St Luke’s, Brislington 1984 – 1991.
Revd Austen married twice and was an ardent anti slavery abolitionist . William Gore Langton also married twice and was an MP for 45 years, twice for Somerset constituencies. He became a Colonel in 1798 and remained so until his death in 1850 aged 87. There is a Gore family grave in St Luke’s churchyard. Barrow Court, Barrow Gurney (now divided into apartments) was the main Gore family seat from 1659 – 1881.
Autumn 2026 will see the WORLD PREMIERE of “LESLEY CASTLE” a Jane Austen novel, which has never been adapted for stage, TV or film. The unfinished novel written by Austen when she was 16 in 1792 has been adapted for the stage by Jonathan Rowe and will be produced by Gemini Players in St Luke’s Church Hall. Not published until 1922, 130 years after was written, it is the only work by Jane Austen to be partly set in Bristol.
2026 marks 100 years of amateur drama in Brislington. In 1926 Brislington Players were formed and they performed plays and musicals in the former St Luke’s Church Hall (now demolished for flats) in Water Lane. Over the century all the churches in Brislington have had their own drama group at some time.
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Jonathan Rowe 2025
Brislington Community News 