The village
of Haworth in West Yorkshire owes its
place on the literary map to Patrick Brontë (originally Brunty, from County
Down in Northern Ireland). In 1820 Patrick moved his family to the
village from their birthplace in Thornton near
Bradford to take up the role of Church of England perpetual curate of the
parish of Haworth. Patrick himself was an author as well as a
priest, but it was his three daughters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne who really
sealed Haworth's fate as a literary
mecca. The sisters wrote a number of
novels based around locations in the area including Jane Eyre (Charlotte),
Wuthering Heights (Emily) and The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall (Anne). Patrick also had a son, Branwell, a painter, writer and
poet, but tragically also an alcoholic, a condition made worse by a failed relationship, which led to his early death. Incredibly, Patrick outlived all
of his offspring as well as his wife Maria.
The main focal point for visitors to
Haworth is the Brontë Parsonage Museum
in Church Street. The Parsonage, dating from 1778, was home to
the Brontë family and it became a
museum in 1928. Visitors can view the
rooms where the family lived their lives, and the museum hosts a range of events relating
to the family. Among the many visitors
to Haworth, there is a particularly large
Japanese contingent due to the country's love affair with the Brontës. A
few years ago some local teenagers studying AS level Japanese were invited to
contribute to a website describing the area's attractions in Japanese.
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| HaworthMainStreet. Photo by Jon Farman, via Wikimedia Commons |
However, Brontë fans should not just
limit themselves to Haworth itself, as there are
a number of locations in the surrounding area of interest to readers of the Brontës' works.
There is a ruined farmhouse near Haworth called Top Withens which is
believed to have been the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, the home of the
Earnshaw family featured in the novel of the same name. Walking enthusiasts might be interested to
know that the farmhouse can be reached via the Pennine Way, being located east of
Withins Height, below Delf Hill. Some of
the footpath signs are in Japanese for the benefit of the many Japanese
tourists who visit the site.
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| Top Withens 2. Photo by Tim Green, via Wikimedia Commons |
Ponden Hall near Stanbury to the west of Haworth is reputedly the inspiration for
Thrushcross Grange, the home of the Linton family in Wuthering
Heights (although it should be noted
that the property does not actually match the description of Thrushcross Grange
in the book). Oakwell Hall is an
Elizabethan manor house in the village
of Birstall to the south-west of Leeds which was visited by Charlotte Brontë. Charlotte was moved by
her visits to make the house the inspiration for Fieldhead in her novel
Shirley. Nearby Gomersal is another
location which provided inspiration for Charlotte,
with Red House, a former cloth merchant's home in Gomersal, as inspiration for Briarmains in Shirley.
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| Oakwell Hall. Photo by Nigel Homer, via Wikimedia Commons |
There are
guided walks available for those who want to make the most of their visit to Haworth.
Map of Haworth.
