Norland Park is an estate located in Sussex, which has belonged to the Dashwood family for generations. It is worth four thousand pounds a-year,[1] and there is a living attached, which Lucy Steele has heard is a good one.[2]
Upon the death of his aunt, Henry Dashwood and his second wife moved to Norland Park with their young daughters to keep his elderly and childless uncle company. When that uncle died ten years later, Mr. Dashwood inherited the estate, but under the terms of the bequest, Mr. Dashwood could not sell or alter any of the property so it passed intact to his grandson Harry.
Mr. Dashwood died a year later, and Norland passed to his son from his first marriage, John Dashwood. John's wife Fanny quickly established herself as mistress, and she made their home so inhospitable that Mrs. Dashwood moved to Barton Cottage with her daughters. Because her husband had bequeathed Mrs. Dashwood all their china, plate, and linen, the John Dashwoods had to buy their own after she left.
Under his ownership John oversaw the enclosure of Norland Common, and he purchased the neighboring East Kingham Farm to expand his property. He destroyed a knoll of old walnut trees and thorns to construct a greenhouse and plant a flower bed for his wife.[3]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 1
- ↑ Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 24
- ↑ Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 33