Welcome to Digital Kent

View Synopsis EVY BARRY reports.

One of the most beloved and widely read authors in English literature is being celebrated in Tonbridge by a circular walk connecting all of the landmarks relating to her family. Jane was actually born in Hampshire and it's not known if she ever visited Tonbridge - but treading in the footsteps of other Austen ancestors is unavoidable here.

VIVIAN BRANSON, Jane Austen Society, Kent Branch: 'In fact this is where it all started. Her great-grandmother Elizabeth Weller was absolutely remarkable and she was left widowed by an Austen with seven children to bring up and she just picked up her skirts and went off to Sevenoaks and was housekeeper for Elijah Fenton the headmaster and he educated her sons for free and had it not been for her doing that, they would never have had the wherewithal to be able to support George Austen - that's Jane's father who was at school here - in his education because he was also left a penniless orphan.'

George's mother died when he was only a year old and his father William followed five years later. It was his uncle Francis who paid for him to be educated at Tonbridge School.

ABI DUNN, St Peter & St Paul Church: '...and he joined his cousin Henry there. Henry was head boy when George joined a few years below him and it really set George up for life - a fantastic opportunity for an education.'

The school ensured he got a scholarship to Oxford where he took his degree and then re-employed him as Second Master.

ABI DUNN: '...which was actually the only other teaching post at the school, so it was really instrumental in starting him off in his career.'

There is also a strong Austen family connection with the local church of St Peter and St Paul.

ABI DUNN: 'This would have been their parish church when George Austen, Jane Austen's father George was growing up. He was baptised here, very key for his family. He would have worshipped here every Sunday as a Tonbridge schoolboy with his cousin Henry and also as a master when he was then employed by Tonbridge School and we like to think it might have played a part in his deciding to become a clergyman with the rest of his life, his career.'

Inside the church nearly all of the people remembered on the north wall were relations of Jane Austen. William Austen, Jane's grandfather is buried in the north aisle. The grave is worn away and covered for preservation.

Tonbridge Castle is also an important landmark on the walk.

ABI DUNN: 'Tonbridge Castle is important because Henry Austen, George's cousin married Mary Hooker whose family owned the castle which really connects the Austens to one of the main families in Tonbridge and shows how much they were a part of the town and the town community really with close connections with all the key players in the town at that time.'

Francis Austen, the great nephew of Jane, is here today to experience the walk for himself.

FRANCIS AUSTEN, Great Nephew, Jane Austen: 'I think it's a wonderful thing because it brings her alive and it certainly produces a recognition of the very close connection of Jane with Tonbridge.'

While the walk celebrates Jane Austen's roots locally, the inspiration for it actually came from thousands of miles away.

ABI DUNN: 'Well we've been working with the library and with the council and with local expert Margaret Wilson but we really kicked off the whole thing because we were written to by the Jane Austen Society of North America who asked us to just give them some up-to-date history on our connection with Jane Austen which we then researched and found out and decided that a walk through the town would also be a terrific idea because there's so many places; Tonbridge was so important for the Austen family there's so much you can still see.'

The walk starts and ends at Tonbridge Library where Sue Wheeler is the District Manager.

SUE WHEELER, District Manager, Tonbridge Library: 'This is the first in Kent Libraries and Archives programme of literary walks; there will be more to follow in the future and I'm delighted that it is taking place in Tonbridge.'

To accompany the walk there is an audio guide can be obtained from the library for £1. There is also a free leaflet that can be downloaded from the Kent libraries website.