Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
To add confusion for Austen scholars there was another Astley's theatre, in the Strand,
known by various names including Astley's, Astley's Pavilion and the Olympic Pavilion.
So it is possible that Harriet and Robert's tender moment happened there.
Walk back over the bridge and turn left into St Margaret Street. Ahead on your left is
Westminster Hall and to the right is Westminster Abbey. Jane would recognise the Abbey
but only the great medieval Westminster Hall survived the fire that destroyed the Palace of
Westminster in 1834. In
Persuasion
Sir Walter twice met with William Elliot in the House
of Commons lobby and Sir Thomas Bertram of
Mansfield Park
was a Member of Parlia-
ment.
Walk down past the front of the Houses of Parliament and when you reach the end,
marked by the Victoria Tower, you are in Abingdon Street. This is where Charles Dundas,
MP for Berkshire, lived when in London. Jane knew the Dundas family and it is this, and
the proximity of Abingdon Street to Westminster Abbey, that has been put forward to sup-
port the identification of a portrait of a lady, with one of the Westminster Abbey towers in
the background, as Jane Austen.
The old House of Commons seen from the Thames in 1830. As well as a
working barge and a small passenger ferry, some pleasure boats with
sightseers can be seen. Before flushing lavatories draining to the river
became widespread in the 1820s, culminating in the Great Stink of
1858, a boat trip made a pleasant outing.
State and official horse-drawn carriages still arrive at the Palace of
Westminster. Black Rod is the senior official responsible for security.
Cross the road and walk back towards the Abbey, round the corner to the Great North
Door. (If the Abbey is closed, continue round to the Great West door).
One of the most dramatic incidents at Westminster Abbey was the extravagant corona-
tion of George IV. It cost £240,000 and he barred his estranged queen, Caroline, from at-
tending. She became desperate, running from door to door, crying to get in, but eventually
she retired, defeated, to Hammersmith.
