Chawton House is a grade ll* listed Elizabethan manor house in Hampshire. It is run as a historic property and also houses the research library of The Centre for the Study of Early Women's Writing, 1600–1830, using the building's connection with the English novelist Jane Austen.
Chawton House, just outside the village of that name, used to be the home of the writer's brother, Edward Austen Knight. It remained a private family home into the late twentieth century. At the turn of the millennium it was purchased by a charitable trust, extensively restored, and re-opened as a research centre. The Centre, which runs study programmes in association with the nearby University of Southampton, incorporates a significant library, a collection of over 9000 books and related manuscripts. The house is now open to visitors, as well as library readers, for tours and during public events.
