Jane and the Ghosts of Portsmouth
Alert Janeite Sumita wrote to tell us that Wymering Manor, a house once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Admiral Sir Francis Austen, is for sale, and will most likely be purchased by the Portsmouth Society and the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust. The house is rumored to be haunted, and the Trust will turn it into a hotel catering to enthusiasts for the paranormal.
Does anyone know if this is the same house that Frank called Portsdown Lodge? Here is a reference to that house from Jane Austen’s Sailor Brothers:
During these years on shore several honours fell to his share. He had been awarded his C. B. in 1815, on the institution of that distinction. In 1825 he was appointed Colonel of Marines, and in 1830 Rear-Admiral. About the same time he purchased Portsdown Lodge, where he lived for the rest of his life. This property is now included within the lines of forts for the defence of Portsmouth, and was bought for that purpose by the Government some years before his death.
May 26th, 2006 at 10:29 am
This report is in error, I believe. Wymering Manor and Portsdown Lodge are two different places, about 2km apart.
Sir Francis Austen, Jane Austen’s brother, is buried in Wymering Churchyard. The church of SS Peter & Paul, Wymering, is adjacent to Wymering Manor, an 11th century house which, in Francis Austen’s time, was the home of the rector Mr. Nugee who was Frank Austen’s close friend. Frank’s ghost has supposedly been seen in Wymering Manor; this report, plus the fact that his memorial is in the adjacent church, must have given rise to the mistaken information that he lived there.
Portsdown Lodge is or was (I don’t know if the house still exists) a Georgian house in the nearby village of Widley.
Here is a map that shows Widley and Wymering
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=466500&Y=106500&A=Y&Z=4
Wymering Manor is the red triangle immediately to the left of Wymering Church (Wymering Manor is at present a Youth Hostel, and YHs are shown on OS maps as red triangles.) The site of Portsdown Lodge could well be close to either Fort Widley or Fort Purbrook, as we know from other sources that Portsdown Lodge was located on a property owned by the Commissioner of Powder for Portsmouth.
May 26th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Really? Frank’s ghost has been seen? Cool.
I kind of wish I’d known this when I was in Portsmouth–would have swung by the churchyard.
This is really good stuff, Robin, thanks!!!
May 26th, 2006 at 11:12 am
You could stay at the Portsmouth Youth Hostel (aka Wymering Manor) and maybe see Frank’s ghost. But hurry; it’s closing down at the end of this season which is why the Manor is for sale. Supposedly he can be seen at the top of the old staircase. I used to work for the Youth Hostels Association and have been at the Portsmouth YH but didn’t know, at the time, about Frank’s ghost or the fact that his grave is hard by.
I just read somewhere else that Portsdown Lodge still exists. Anyone out there in the Portsmouth area who can give us an eye-witness report?
May 26th, 2006 at 11:25 am
How do they know it’s Frank? Does it look like the photo of him taken when he was elderly? Or is it some random dude in a Royal Navy uniform? Inquiring minds want to know.
I’d like to think that Ghost!Frank would be so obliging as to show himself to impertinent American Janeites who arrive expressly to visit him, as he was so obliging and kind to Anna Waterston.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:42 am
This is incredible. There is another link between Wymering Manor and Jane Austen, quite independent of Frank.
Guess who went to live in Wymering Manor, with the wife he married on the rebound. (That’s a clue.)
May 26th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Are his initials T.L.?
If so, from what I’ve heard it wasn’t a rebound…she was actually in the picture BEFORE Jane.
Wait wait wait I know! H.B-W.?
May 26th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
HB-W is your man. See the Bigg-Wither Family Website.