A 250 year old harp with historical ties to Jane Austen has been brought back to life and returned to the celebrated author's home village for a special performance.

The 'beautifully ornate' instrument was once owned by the novelist's cousin Eliza, whose vivacious, flirty character and playing was the inspiration for Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park.

It was tracked down and restored by Mike Parker, a historical musicologist, who played it - and some of Eliza's own music - at an intimate recital this weekend in Chawton.

In bringing the harp to Austen's home, Mr Parker was fulfilling a quest that took him from east London to Belgium in search of the instrument, which had sat collecting dust for more than 200 years.

"It's not in perfect condition, but the incredible thing is the fact it has survived", the 58 year old said. "When I got it, it was pretty derelict, it was grotty. It had 150 years of nicotine on it.

"The neck had been badly broken, it needed to be fixed. Once I got it tuned and up to pitch, what came out of it was this beautiful, lovely little sound.

"It was a voice from the past. I heard a sound that modern instruments just don't have. It sang when the world was different."

Eliza's harp is the oldest known working pedal harp in the UK, Mr Parker says.

The Holtzman instrument's previously untold story begins in Paris in 1777 where it was made and Eliza first learned to play it.

Born Eliza Hancock in India to an English upper-class family, Eliza was Austen's cousin, was 14 years her senior, and would eventually go on to become her sister-in-law.

Four years later, the pretty and glamorous young woman married a captain in the French army, Jean-François Capot de Feuillide, who went on to assume the title of comte, or ‘count’.

Her love of music grew and Eliza - now Eliza Capot, Comtesse de Feuillide - developed an impressive collection of manuscripts.

As the French Revolution unfolded, Eliza, her husband, and her mother fled to England via Belgium, where her harp stayed.

Her husband Jean-François returned to Paris and was guillotined in 1794 after he was found guilty of supporting the monarchy.

Now living in England and spending time at Chawton House, Eliza went on to marry Austen's brother Henry in 1797 and became an Austen herself.

While Eliza's cherished Holtzman did not come to England with her, Eliza continued her passion by playing the harp. Eliza died in 1813 aged 51 with Austen by her side.

It is said that Eliza was a major source of inspiration for Austen, basing a number of her characters on her.

In her novel Mansfield Park, harp-playing beauty Mary Crawford is said to be inspired by Eliza and charms men with her performances.

Austen wrote in the novel: "Miss Crawford's attractions did not lessen. The harp arrived, and rather added to her beauty, wit, and good-humour; for she played with the greatest obligingness, with an expression and taste which were peculiarly becoming."

Mr Parker's discovery of the Holtzman harp took him from his home in east London to Belgium.

He revealed he stumbled across its existence while he was researching Eliza's collection of manuscripts. While visiting a collector, he was tipped off that Eliza's harp had in fact survived and was being offered for sale by one of her descendants.

So, he travelled to Belgium to buy it and has breathed new life into its strings by repairing it.

"Eliza was a really interesting character," he said. "I was familiar with her partially because of the Jane Austen connection, but I didn't know much about her or her circumstances so I have ended up doing a lot of work on her.

"I have a lot of respect for her. She was left a fairly attractive young widow so she worked her way through Jane Austen's brothers until she found Henry, as I understand it."

He said Eliza's single action pedal harp is 5ft 1ins, while modern double action harps are 6ft 6ins.

He added: "It plays two octaves lighter. It produces a very bright, silvery sound.

"It's a more gentle sound, it wasn't meant to be played in a large room, but in salons, it was for at-home entertainment, something you might hear in French drawing rooms."

At his Saturday evening recital at Chawton Village Hall, which raised money for stroke charity Headway, Mr Parker played three other historical harps and raised £420 for charity.

After the performance, he said: "Every artist focuses on their mistakes, and I thought I played like a dog, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. At one point, a pheasant tried to sing along.

"It was nerve-wracking, especially in the hot weather. Just before I started, one of the strings needed re-tuning because of the humidity.

"It was far too hot, so we had the door open, and a storm of pollen came in, but it was a lovely night.

"It went really well. People were interested in Eliza, who usually gets overshadowed by Jane Austen, so it was nice to shine a light on her."

Richard Desmond, who specialises in the conservation of historic gardens, got a front-row seat at the concert to see the harps.

He said: "It was a great success. I enjoyed it very much indeed. It was a very happy atmosphere, and the harps were beautiful. I didn't quite know what to expect, but it was marvellous. It was very interesting."