North Hampshire

Towns & Villages

ALTON

This splendid market town boasts many Georgian buildings as well as the Tudor cottage that was once home to the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser.

The Curtis Museum celebrates the history of a locality whose prosperity originally came from brewing and wool.

The Church of St. Lawrence has a tower dating to the 11th century and in the churchyard is the grave of a murdered girl with the familiar name Fanny Adams.

Alton - Photo: Stephen McKay CCL

Aldershot Military Museum - Photo: Colin Smith CCL

Jane Austen spent the last few years of her life on the nearby Chawton estate, which was owned by her brother Edward.

She wrote some of her major novels at Chawton Cottage, including ‘Sense and Sensibility’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

Jane, who was only 41 when she died, was buried in Winchester Cathedral in 1816.

Her home is now her museum.