These sites may not all be directly mentioned by Austen herself, but each evokes the world she inhabited—through their architecture, parish life, and the intimate marks left by their communities.

This edition is hosted by our regular presenter Vikki Jenner and features:

St John the Baptist, Upper Eldon – a rare Norman church abandoned due to agricultural enclosure, filled with mysterious apotropaic graffiti

St Mary’s, Hartley Wintney – known as the Church on the Hill, with extraordinary wall paintings and layers of historical graffiti

All Saints, Little Somborne – a Saxon church visited by antiquarians and once part of the wider Somborne estate landscape

St Mary’s, Ashley – a hidden gem with medieval graffiti, Cistercian links, and a memorable 18th-century pew layout

St Nicholas, Freefolk – tucked away beside the River Test, this rustic church features a unique painted Royal Arms and deeply personal inscriptions

Throughout these churches, we explore findings made by the Hampshire Medieval Graffiti Project, whose volunteers have helped bring these sites to life by recording centuries of markings made by ordinary people—some devotional, others humorous or mysterious. Their work reminds us how much of our past is carved quietly into stone.

This feature is followed by a recorded lecture from Dr Lizzie Rogers, first broadcast in 2022, titled Jane Austen and her "beloved sister". In this talk, Lizzie explores the close relationship between Jane and Cassandra Austen, reflecting on sisterhood and female friendship in both Austen’s life and fiction.

Dr Lizzie Rogers is an independent historian of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, specialising in women’s history, historic houses, and their representation on screen. She completed her PhD at the University of Hull and currently works as the Curator and Archivist at Bowood House in Wiltshire.