New Jane Austen display in Lyme Regis

A number of new exhibits have appeared in Lyme Regis Museum over the last few weeks, most importantly the updated Jane Austen display shown above. As mentioned in a previous post, these are items that actually belonged to Jane and her immediate family. They were kindly donated to the Museum by Diana Shervington, a Lyme Regis resident who is a descendant of one of Jane Austen’s brothers.

One of the most interesting items, which you can see on the right of the picture, is a box of counters for the game of Merelles. This game, also sometimes called Nine Men’s Morris, was ancient even in Jane Austen’s day -- it dates back to Roman times!