Yesterday's photo of Chawton House...shows the long driveway. To the right, 2/3rds of the way down is St Nicholas church in Chawton. It has beautiful flint walls and there is another ancient Yew tree growing there. Both Jane's mother and only sister Cassandra are buried in the church yard.

A church has stood on the site of the present St. Nicholas since at least 1270 when it was mentioned in a diocesan document, but there is reason to believe that a place of worship existed there well before that date. The building was enlarged and improved inside and out over the years and much of it was re-built in the early Victorian period. However a disastrous fire in 1871 effectively destroyed the whole building except for the chancel so that the present nave, north aisle, vestry and tower date only from 1872/3 although many of the early memorials were saved and are still on the walls.