Country Houses - Essay | Norland
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Country Houses in Jane Austen's novels - Sense and Sensibility
Norland
Norland is a substantial estate in the county of Sussex. While neither
approaching the grandeur of Pemberley nor producing an income of £10,000 a year, it is
nevertheless a more than comfortable home and at £4,000 a year it is twice the size of
Colonel Brandon’s Delaford estate.
In the first chapter of Sense & Sensibility we learn that
Norland has been the home of the Dashwood family for several generations, and the family
is well respected within the local community. By the end of chapter 2 it is apparent that
the high regard in which the name of Dashwood is held will decrease. Norland too is
diminished by the actions of its new owners. For Jane Austen it is the bad face of a
changing England.
Norland has had the misfortune to be bequeathed to an unworthy owner.
John Dashwood does not have the same level of social conscience as Mr Darcy at Pemberley,
nor does he show the good stewardship of Mr Knightley at Donwell. He will not be a good
custodian of the estate for future generations. John Dashwood is an example of the
increasing number of gentry who feel they have no obligations towards their extended
family or the neighbourhood.
He made a promise to his father on his death bed to provide for his stepmother and
stepsisters, but apart from allowing them to stay at Norland for six months after Mr
Dashwood’s death (during which time they are made to feel like visitors in what had
been their own home), he does nothing to help them. With the assistance of his wife he
finally comes to the conclusion that his promise to his father means he has to do no more
for them than give them gifts of fish and game when they are in season. He even manages to
convince himself that it would be highly indecorous to do more than this for the widow and
children of his father.
When the Dashwood women finally leave Norland for Barton in Devon he
says he regrets not being able to be of assistance to them with moving their belongings.
Assistance has been rendered impossible by their moving so far from Norland, which means
their household goods will be transported by water. His regrets do not reach as far as his
pocketbook - he does not offer them any money to assist with the cost of moving. The only
real regret he has at their departure is the loss of china, linen and plate which Mr
Dashwood was free to bequeath to his widow and which moves with her to Barton.
It is also safe to assume that long serving, loyal servants at Norland
will fare no better than Mrs Dashwood and her daughters. If John Dashwood will not provide
for relatives, he certainly won’t provide for retired servants once they can no
longer work. Fanny Dashwood will make sure of that: after all she has her mother’s
experiences with superannuated servants as an example of how odious and inconvenient
obligations to others can be.
Once Norland has excluded dependent members of its extended family, it
goes about excluding the local community as well. 1793 to 1815 saw the second major wave
of Enclosure acts in England. As part of this movement, by enclosing Norland Common, John
Dashwood forces small landholders and tenant farmers off the land. Their consolidated
holdings became too small to be economic to farm, especially when coupled with the loss of
traditional grazing rights and other rights associated with common land. Like many other
men John Dashwood is not slow to profit from the misfortunes he has helped to create for
others. It has been to his advantage to enclose Norland Common, and now he has the
opportunity to add other smallholdings to his estate. Indeed, he feels it is his
‘duty’ to purchase East Kingham Farm when it becomes available.
John Dashwood is intent on changing his local community, tearing apart
the way of life of generations for his own benefit. However he is not interested in
anyone’s welfare other than that of his own immediate family. He is enlarging Norland
at the expense of others but he will never be a model landlord like Darcy. It is
impossible to believe he will go to the expense of building a model village for his
tenants as some landlords did.
In another break with the habits of generations, the John Dashwoods are
not permanent residents at Norland - in his first year as owner John Dashwood signals his
intention to be an absentee landlord. In the midst of vast change for the local community,
the family that should be leading and protecting that community packs up and moves to
London for a season of fun and frivolity. John Dashwood is not a hands-on farmer and
landlord in the mould of Mr Knightley. His farming is done for him by his steward.
On the estate the only ‘improvements’ he is interested in
carrying out are those of the fashionable and superficial kind. It is imperative that
Fanny Dashwood has a flower garden and greenhouse. To do this he has torn down walnut
trees which are decades old to build a greenhouse which could be replaced once it has
reached the end of its fashionable life. Norland has a master and mistress for whom a
fashion-statement greenhouse which can be seen from many parts of the park is more
important than trees which provide shelter and food and timber.
Norland is an estate in decline - it does not provide for its
dependants, it is in danger of becoming less and less respected in the neighbourhood, its
owners have no real attachment to the house, the land or the community - they are only
attached to it to the extent that it can show off their wealth and position in society.
Norland is in very great danger of becoming useless rather than useful.
Andrea Richards
References
Duckworth, Alistair M, The Improvement of the Estate, John Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore, 1994
Lane, Maggie, Jane Austen’s England, Robert Hale Limited, London,
1986
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