Haworth & Bront? Country | Hello Yorkshire Blog

The imposing Victorian facade and pleasant grounds of the Bront? Parsonage Museum, photo courtesy of The Bronte Society

Haworth?s main claim to fame is that it is the village that was home to the Bront? family from 1820 to 1861, but it is a charming place in its own right which still retains a Victorian feel ? and indeed several weeks before Christmas the children of the village dress up in Victorian clothes for the ceremony of Scroggling the Holly ? an activity which involves a Holly Queen, Fairies, Pixies, Morris Men and, of course, Santa Claus.

Before then, on the 19^th & 20^th May this year, Haworth will be holding its 1940s weekend ? an annual event in which the villagers and visitors dress up in period costume and are joined by military vehicles and a fly-past. There are also re-enactments, street entertainment and live shows featuring music from the period.

The Bront? family?s dwelling, the Parsonage, is now a much esteemed museum, open almost all the year round (check the Bront? Parsonage Museum?s website for full details), which is owned and managed by the Bront? Society. The Museum has collections of the Bront? family?s possessions, including furniture, household items, some of the paintings that adorned the walls when the family lived there, and, most importantly, manuscripts, letters and drawings created by the Bront? sisters. The Museum?s Research Library is an important resource for scholars of the Bront?s, with all sorts of critical and biographical background on the family, as well as books, articles and other material about Anne, Charlotte and Emily Bront? and their brother Branwell, father Patrick and other members of their family.

The Bront? sisters would have written their books in longhand using a quill pen like this, photo courtesy of The Bronte Society

Patrick Bront?, the local curate ? hence his home in the Parsonage ? must have had a miserable time, as his wife died of cancer in 1821 at the age of 38 and the woes that befell the rest of his family must have sorely tried his faith. If there was an upside of his wife?s early death it was that she didn?t see her six children die, as Patrick did. Maria, the firstborn died in 1825 at the age of 11, Elizabeth was a year younger when she died less than 6 weeks after Maria. The Bront?s only son, Branwell, died aged 31 in September 1848. His sister Emily died in the December of the same year aged 30. Another sister, Anne, went in the May of the following year. Charlotte Bront? died in March 1855 aged 38. Patrick outlived the last of his children by another six years, dying at 84 in 1861. None of his offspring had any children of their own, though Charlotte had married and was pregnant when she died. Unfortunately such devastation to a single family was not uncommon in those days, before hygiene and effective medicine were available to all.

Fortunately, Anne, Emily and Charlotte left a rich legacy in their novels; one which still resonates deeply today ? it seems that almost every year a new film or TV drama based on of their stories reaches our screens. And for fans of the novels, you can buy the complete novels on Amazon by clicking the picture below:

The Bront? Parsonage is an imposing building, at the top of Haworth?s Main Street ? a steep, cobblestoned and narrow road, lined with Victorian cottages and many interesting shops. At the lower end of Main Street, and through Central Park is Haworth Station, which is on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway line (aka KWVR). This steam railway has a great heritage ? having featured in the Jenny Agutter film The Railway Children and Yanks ? with Richard Gere and Vanessa Redgrave. It was also in an episode of the BBC TV comedy series Last of the Summer Wine. The KWVR will also be very much a part of the Haworth 1940s Weekend with steam trains and vintage buses providing a frequent service to bring people right into the heart of the village. The KWVR line runs between the town of Keighley and the small village of Oxenhope ? home of the Oxenhope Straw Race, a team event held each summer and involving carrying a bale of straw and drinking copious amounts of beer ? but all in a good cause as much money is raised for charities as a result.

0-4-0 Saddletank Locomotive "Lord Mayor", photo courtesy of Ingrow Museum of Rail Travel ? owned by Vintage Carriages Trust

Continuing the railway theme, nearby Keighley has a highly acclaimed Museum of Rail Travel, with locomotives and carriages dating from as far back as the 1870s. And there?s more. The Ingrow Loco Museum is on the outskirts of Keighley, at Ingrow, another station on the KWVR and has a fascinating collection of engines and railway memorabilia. Also in Ingrow and further reinforcing the area?s claim to be a haven for transport enthusiasts, is the Keighley Bus Museum ? with 50 vehicles, some fully roadworthy and others under repair.

The Museum has a fine collection of station name plates and other memorabilia, photo courtesy of Ingrow Museum of Rail Travel ? owned by Vintage Carriages Trust

Another museum in Keighley is Cliffe Castle ? with displays featuring natural history, geology, minerals, crystals, and local fossils, as well as pottery, stained glass, local bygones, toys, dolls, rooms furnished in Victorian style and, from time to time, temporary exhibitions. But if you want to visit, be quick, as it will be undergoing major refurbishment work from the 2^nd April 2012 and will be closed for 12 months thereafter.

Also near Keighley is East Riddlesden Hall, a 17^th century manor house under the ownership of the National Trust. This award-winning (Yorkshire?s Small Visitor Attraction of 2011) house has a rose garden, a walled garden, a children?s play area, a 17^th century tithe barn (one of the finest in the north of the country), embroideries, carvings, Yorkshire rose windows, a bird hide and lots more ? including, allegedly, several ghosts. The Murgatroyd family, who were once the owners and reputedly lived a dissolute life, were said to be the basis for Baronets of the same name in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera Ruddigore.

Returning to Haworth, the Bront? Parsonage Museum is the start of the Bront? Trail ? which includes the Bront? Waterfalls at Stanbury, Top Withens (reputed to be the inspiration for Emily Bront??s Wuthering Heights), and Ponden Hall (renamed Thrushcross Grange in Wuthering Heights). The Trail is a little over 8 miles long and takes in some stunning and haunting scenery. It can be quite steep in places, and should never be attempted in poor weather conditions ? you don?t want to risk catching consumption!

The Bront? Trail is part of the much longer Bront? Way ? a 43-mile walk from Oakwell Hall (Charlotte Bront??s Fieldhead in Shirley) near Bradford, to Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley. Charlotte was a frequent visitor to Gawthorpe, as she was friendly with the Shuttleworth family who owned it.

Another ?must? for walkers is the nearby Ilkley Moor which was featured in an earlier blog.

Stop press: The piano in the Bront? Parsonage Museum will be the subject of a 30 minute programme on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30 am on Tuesday 13 March 2012 in a broadcast which explores the music that the family played and sang. The programme will feature soprano Catherine Bott and pianist Jonathan Cohen. Go here to find out more and here to read about the background to the piano?s recent restoration.

If you fancy a trip to Haworth and wish to stay for a few days, you can find Haworth bed and breakfast and Haworth holiday cottages on Hello Yorkshire. And if you?re after an Ordnance Survey folded map of the area, the following is available on Amazon:

or the following book of walks called the Bront? Way:

Tags: anne bronte, bronte parsonage, bronte parsonage museum, bronte trail, charlotte bronte, cliffe castle museum, east riddlesden hall, emily bronte, haworth, ingrow loco museum, kwvr

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 at 12:03 pm and is filed under Useful information, Visitor Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.hello-yorkshire.co.uk/blog/haworth-bronte-country

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