Reader Bill kindly informed me that the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the village of Send, Surrey, stands in for Highbury’s parish church in the new BBC Emma adaptation.  Portions of the current church structure date back to as early as 1220!  For photographs of the building and historical information, visit the Send Parish official site.

St. Mary's Church in Send Village, Surrey, appears in the BBC's new Emma adaptation.

The church's interiors are featured in the adaptation, as well!

Loseley Park is another Surrey locale utilized in Emma, portraying Mr. Knightley’s Donwell Abbey.  An Austen adaptation veteran (featured in the 2008 version of Sense & Sensibility), this Guildford estate has existed since at least the eleventh century.  While not an ex-abbey proper, Loseley house apparently deserves honorary abbey status; the current house, built in the 1660s, was partly constructed with stone retrieved from nearby Waverley Abbey!  You can read a nineteenth century account of Waverley’s ruins here.

Loseley House as Donwell Abbey.

Vic has also posted a nice piece about several locations used in the adaptation, including Chilham Village (standing in for Highbury) and Squerryes Court (standing in as Hartfield) in Kent.

Squerryes Court as Hartfield.

The Village of Chilham stars as Highbury.

Complete(ish) list of 2009 BBC Emma filming locations…

• Squerryes Court – Hartfield
• Loseley Park – Donwell Abbey
• Chilham, Kent – Highbury
• Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Send, Surrey – Highbury’s parish church
• Stocketts Manor, Old Oxted, Surrey – Crown Inn
• Fitzroy Square, London – Brunswick Square
• Beachy Head – Honeymoon bluffs

More Emma filming location links…

• Historic homes in the BBC’s  new series of Emma (Times Online)
• Emma crew find swan a real handful (This is Kent article on filming at Squerryes Court)
• Familiar backdrop to new Jane austen adaptation (Kent Online article about Chilham and Squerryes Court)
• Monica Fairview’s blog entry about Chilham
• Chilham taken back in time for Jane Austen’s Emma (Kentish Express)
• BBC’s Emma to start filming in Chilham next week (YourCanturbury.uk.com)
• More 2009 BBC Emma resources at the Emma Adaptations Pages