The public consultation with Martin Jennings about his Jane Austen sculpture has been fixed for 2pm Monday, February 26 at the Wessex Centre. 

Anyone with an interest in shaping the future of The Close would be welcome to attend, though if you plan to motor in, please use the city car parks.

A concern worth addressing earlier than the consultation is whether this sculpture, to be installed in 2025, fits the monastic character of the Inner Close. This character was of course considerably altered by the 16th Century Reformation, when public access was first granted to this land – an undoubted change for the better. 

Monastic buildings were rebuilt as residential homes for clergy and land parcelled up into gardens. A hundred years ago, the front garden of No 9 The Close, on which the Austen sculpture will be sited, was private land surrounded by iron railings, the footings of which can still be seen in the masonry plinth around the lawn.

The Inner Close should be seen, then, not only as the former site of two medieval cloisters, but also as a swathe of gardens, some parts of which have recently been opened for the pleasure of the public. In this respect, fine artworks in gardens are a worthy addition to The Close. 

As Alan Titchmarsh, honorary president of the Hampshire Gardens Trust, has remarked on this planned sculpture: “Sometimes a statue is just the focus a garden needs to give it a unique sense of place. What could be more fitting than a graceful memorial to Jane Austen, so near to where she died and was buried, in such beautiful and historic surroundings.”

The Reverend Canon Dr Roland Riem, 
Vice-dean and canon chancellor,
Winchester Cathedral,
The Close, 
Winchester

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