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Bronte Country West Yorkshire England

Tracing the Fascinating Bronte Sisters in Haworth, England

Luxury travel blog » Places to Travel » Europe Travel » England » Tracing the Fascinating Bronte Sisters in Haworth, England
July 31, 2016 by Carol Perehudoff

This post may contain affiliate links.

The Bronte Sisters in Haworth, England

It’s a haunting landscape, the moors of West Yorkshire, England, where the Bronte family lived, wrote and loved. It might be something in the water, but it’s impossible to visit Haworth, the Bronte village, and not become a fan.

Here are the best ways to see it.

Bronte sisters Haworth Worth Valley

Visit the Bronte Parsonage

It was the table that did it. The worn wooden table in the parlour of the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, England, where the family lived. Fairly gleaming with literary ghosts and alive with the lingering whispers of elegantly-turned phrases, it brought the Brontes to life.

Bronte Parsonage Museum table Haworth England
A table with a past

 

The Bronte Sisters at the Table

As children, the Bronte sisters: Charlotte, Emily and Anne, would sit here with their brother Branwell, devoting untold hours to writing and creating fantastical worlds.

Later, working on their novels and poetry, the Bronte sisters would walk around the table long into the evening, reading their work out loud and offering critical feedback to each other.

Then Emily died, and Anne died and Charlotte circled the table alone.

Bronte Parsonage Museum Bronte sisters Haworth England

The Bronte House is a Pilgrimage Point for Fans

They were a tight knit family, the Brontes, and a visit to the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire, is a right of passage for thousands of Bronte fans. More than 200 years after Charlotte Bronte was born, the Bronte house’s allure continues.

Charlotte was born in 1816, Branwell in 1817, Emily in 1818 and Anne in 1820.

Don’t Forget Patrick Bronte

Not to leave anyone out, Patrick Bronte, their social-justice-minded father played an important role as the parson in Haworth. 

Bronte Country West Yorkshire England
Rambling in Bronte Country

Brontemania

Intrigued by the tragic yet uplifting history of the Bronte family, I quickly grew obsessed with finding the top Bronte attractions. It’s an offbeat and atmospheric destination to put on your list of England travel itineraries.

My first symptom manifested itself in the churchyard of the Bronte Parish Church. I’d gone for a brief ramble and was rejoining my friends for our BrontëWalks Tour just as someone remarked on a black hen whipping across the churchyard.

“What about the hen?” I asked quickly, not wanting to miss any Bronte lore.

“It’s a pea hen,” Kalyani, one of the women in our group, said. “Just a hen.”

“Oh, not a Bronte hen, then?” I asked, disappointed.

“Well, it might be named Charlotte or Emily.”

Why do the Brontes Fascinate Us?

I might have been taking my Bronte pilgrimage to extremes, but it’s easy to be fascinated by the Bronte sisters.

First, there is the phenomenon of having three gifted literary sisters in one house. Then there is the passion in their writing and the unforgettable characters they conjured (hello, Heathcliff!).

Ultimately, there is tragedy. Anne died at 29, Emily was 30, Charlotte at 38.

Bronte sisters statue Haworth England
The Bronte sisters

Who Were the Bronte Sisters?

The Bronte sisters were an unlikely literary trio. Their own world was small (although they travelled more than most people think), and so were they. Charlotte was 4’10”- you can see her tiny dress at the Parsonage.

The books they wrote, however, loom large: among them Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Emily’s Wuthering Heights and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 

View from Haworth England, the Bronte village
Haworth

The Bronte Sisters in Haworth, England

Their father moved the family to Haworth in 1820 after becoming the village rector, and Haworth’s setting on the edge of the wild moors would inspire and influence all the sisters’ writing.

In particular the setting can be felt in Emily’s Wuthering Heights. It’s a novel that seems to claw its way out of the Yorkshire soil as organically as the purple heather that colours the moors in summer.

Bronte moors Haworth England

See the Bronte Parish Church

Johnnie Briggs, the guide for our BrontëWalks Tour led us into the parish church where Patrick Bronte had devoted so many years.

All the Brontes are buried here except Anne, who died in Scarborough. Inside, a plaque dedicated to Emily and Charlotte marks the spot on the floor where they lie.

“Gifts are always being left here,” Johnnie said.

I looked down and saw a tiny brass vase with wild flowers, a painted heart and a feather, realizing I was following a long line of Bronte fans.

Bronte Parish Church Haworth England

 

The Tragic History of the Brontes

Death loomed large in the family and being in the church brought it home. There were five Bronte sisters in all, but two of them, Elizabeth and Marie, didn’t live past childhood.

Their mother died in 1821, a year after moving to Haworth, and Branwell, a gifted artist, never lived up to his early promise, turning to alcohol and morphine and dying early in 1848. Emily died the same year of tuberculosis, Anne a year later.

Charlotte would go on to marry her father’s curate, Arthur Nicholls (against her father’s wishes). She died in 1855, possibly of hyperemesis gravidarum, the same super morning sickness that afflicted Kate Middleton.

The last survivor was Patrick who lived to 84.

“Why did the children die so young? Were they a sickly family?” I asked Johnnie as we made our way outside.

Bronte sisters parsonage graveyard Haworth England

 

Gravely Unsanitary

Johnnie motioned around at the moss-tinted gravestones standing at crooked angles over the churchyard. “The spring water came through the graveyard and the water was contaminated. There was sewage in the streets,” he said. “Life expectancy in Haworth was 25.8 years.”

No wonder the Bronte books are so dark, I thought.

One look around and it was easy to imagine tales of ghosts, madness and revenge. Between the grey clouds hovering over the horizon and the mournful-looking gravestones, you’d think a pall of despair would suffocate the entire village.

Yet this “strange uncivilized little place,” as Charlotte called it, is surprisingly cheerful.

Bronte sisters in Haworth England
Haworth

 

The Churchyard

Even the churchyard was a bustle of Bronte-based activity, and by chance we ran into a who’s who of Bronte elite.

The woman poking around in a yellow rain slicker was archaeologist Dr Angela Redmond, while the man talking to her was Steven Wood, a Bronte historian.

Bronte experts in Haworth Parish Church
Bronte experts deep in conversation

 

“Angela’s just found a medieval cross,” Steven told John.

Obligingly, Angela led me to a shadowy corner of the church, pushed away some foliage and showed me the faint trace of a Greek cross carved in the stone.

Crouching in front of it, I wondered if the Bronte sisters, led by Branwell, the precocious leader of the siblings, had ever stumbled across the carving for themselves, building an imaginary world around it as they did with Branwell’s toy soldiers.

Bronte walk Haworth England

 

Take a Break at Cobbles and Clay

Stopping for coffee at Cobbles and Clay, a combination cafe and pottery painting studio, we ran into yet another Bronte expert, the noted historian Ann Dinsdale.

At this point I realized I hadn’t met a single person in Haworth who wasn’t connected to the Brontes, and began to wonder if these days it wasn’t some sort of Brontemania that had seeped into the spring water.

No doubt Ann, author of The Brontes at Haworth, would have liked to enjoy her coffee in peace, but as we were just heading out to the moors I couldn’t help asking her about the Bronte sisters’ connection to the outdoors.

“They were living on the edge of the landscape,” she said. “And the wild moors are so heartbreakingly beautiful. They were very rooted here.”

Bronte walk to Top Withens
The edge of the landscape

Take Bronte Walk Up to Top Withens

That made me all the more excited to get out into Bronte country for myself. The most popular Bronte hike is the 6.5-mile circuit up to Top Withens, the farmhouse believed to be the location of the fictional Wuthering Heights. 

We didn’t have time for the full hike, but even our abbreviated version was a highlight, complete with atmospheric rain.

“We call it the Yorkshire kiss,” Johnnie said, as I pulled my hood tight.

“I think Yorkshire just made it to third base,” I said, wiping drizzle off my forehead.

Bronte sisters in Haworth England, the moors

 

Explore the Moors

We headed up the narrow road, whipped by wind and stared at by soggy sheep huddling against stone walls.

Blankets of heather, bracken and grass were interrupted by dark patches of Millstone Grit, the local sandstone, while a lone tree stood by the ruins of Top Withens.

“The connection between literature and the landscape is right here,” Johnnie said. “This was Heathcliff and Catherine’s wild playground.”

Bronte sisters walk near Haworth

The Romantic Landscape of Yorkshire

It felt bleak and romantic, and here in the realm of larks and curlews and lapwings, I felt certain the Brontes lived on.

I could picture Charlotte, not pacing around the worn wooden table in grief, constrained by four walls, but striding over the moors with her sisters and brother – while around them, like daffodils bending their heads in the wind, wave their generations of fans.

 

 

Travel Guide for the Bronte sisters and Haworth, England

Bronte sights in and around Haworth

Top Withens and Bronte Waterfall Walk

This hike starts from Haworth and takes you to the Bronte Waterfall, a spot held dear by Charlotte (don’t miss the stone ‘Bronte Chair‘), across the Bronte Bridge and up to Top Withens, coming back along the Pennine Way.

For exact directions you can get a map from the Tourist Office at 2-4 West Lane, or check out this detailed Guardian article on the Brontës’ moors, Haworth, West Yorkshire for directions.

For a shorter walk, you can also depart from Stanbury (that’s what we did).

BrontëWalks Tour

Learn as you hike with BrontëWalks. Offering guided walks on the moors and day tours of the Haworth area, BrontëWalks is the perfect fix for any Bronte addiction. Our guide Johnnie Briggs was a storehouse of Bronte lore. Pick-ups from hotels and railway stops. Tel: 011-44-7749-108-105. brontewalks.co.uk.

Bronte country, Bronte Walks tour Haworth England

The Bronte Parsonage Museum

The Bronte Parsonage, the house where the Brontes lived, is located at the top of Main Street. It’s now a museum run by the Bronte Society. (Fun fact: Judy Dench is the President of the Bronte Society.) If you’re a literary fan, this is the one Bronte sight not to miss.

The Bronte Parsonage Museum is open Wed to Sunday. Note: The museum is closed in January. Address: Brontë Parsonage Museum, Church Street, Haworth, Keighley, West Yorkshire, UK.

Haworth Parish Church

The Haworth Parish Church, St Michael and All Angels, where the Brontes are buried (save Anne) is located next to the parsonage.

Rebuilt in 1879, it hardly looks the same as it did during the Brontes’ time here, but the tower dates back to 1480, and the origins of the church itself go back much further.

Margaret’s Book Shop

Margaret’s Book Shop was the village post office where the Bronte sisters would post their manuscripts. And yes, people come in to rub the original wooden counter.

Druggist’s Shop

You can also visit the Druggist’s Shop where Branwell bought his opium.

KWVR Steam Train – the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

It wasn’t built until after the Brontes’ time, but the KWVR Steam Train is still a fun thing to do from Haworth.

Built to serve the local mill trades in the late 19th century, the train line runs less than 5 miles, but it’s a trip through the historic Worth Valley, where Haworth is located. And it does have a literary connection. It’s featured in the story of the Railway Children.

Where to eat and stay in Bronte country

Ashmount Country House, in the footsteps of the Bronte sisters
Ashmount

Ashmount Country House

Ashmount Country House in Haworth is a luxury bed and breakfast (we stopped there for a sumptuous high tea). The Bronte connection? This elegant 19th-century house was the home of Charlotte Bronte’s physician. Address: Ashmount Country House, Mytholmes Lane, Haworth, Yorkshire.

Stay at Ponden Hall

The 17th-century Ponden Hall near Stanbury is said to be the model for Thrushcross Grange in Wuthering Heights. It’s a place the Brontes visited often. Now it’s a B&B.

Holdsworth House Bronte Country
Holdsworth House

Holdsworth House

We stayed at Holdsworth House, a luxury hotel 3 miles north of Halifax and about a 20-minute drive to Haworth. While this Jacobean manor built in 1633 has no connection to the Bronte sisters that I know of, it makes a cozy base for exploring the West Yorkshire’s Pennines and the Dales.

Importantly, the Beatles stayed here in 1964, and the narrow twin beds where they slept are still here. Also, the shaggy friendly horses out next to the hotel are irresistible.

Horses at Holdsworth House

Clarendon Hotel & Restaurant – A Pub with Rooms

Slightly farther afield is Clarendon restaurant, a creative combination of modern French cuisine and British cookery. The building is a traditional, stone-walled public house 8.3 miles from medieval Bolton Abbey. Located in Hebden, Skipton.

Getting to Haworth

By rail: To get to Haworth you can take a train to the town of Keighley. Then take the restored Keighley and Worth Valley railway to Haworth.

Resources:

For travel ideas read Places to Visit in England.

For more info on Yorkshire visit Welcome to Yorkshire. Disclosure: My trip to the Bronte Country was subsidized by VisitBritain – visit their site for plenty of travel ideas.

 

 

Category: Culture, England, Travel guides

About Carol Perehudoff

A former freelance travel columnist for the Toronto Star, Carol has won more than 30 writing awards and honours. A spa and luxury travel expert, she’s written for top travel publications around the globe.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carol Perehudoff

    I hope people take advantage of your offer, Shannon.

  2. Shannon

    Thanks for this post on behalf of all Bronte fans. Carol, I had to chuckle at your mention of the KWVR steam train–I’m a consultant who works with a rail company, but we don’t sell tickets for that ride, lol. But if any of your readers are interested, there is a summer promotion on for travel in England with some BritRail passes. It’s a great way to do some literary touring! (http://www.acprail.com/blog/2015/07/britrail-free-day-promotion/)

  3. Carol Perehudoff

    I love literary travel, too, Lauren. The Brontes are one of the most fascinating literary families there are.

  4. Lauren

    Absolutely fascinating! I am always fond of “literary travel” that highlights the places stories were set or written, but this also uncovers so much about the family themselves. I love that there is such a thing as Brontemania!

  5. rochkirstin

    I’ve never heard about the Bronte sisters until now. I may be living under a rock all this time. The story is interesting. It’s an unfortunate event that they passed away really young though.

  6. Carol Perehudoff

    Hi, Gwendolyn, Yorkshire is full of history, especially when it comes to the Bronte sisters. There’s no question of that! Thanks for commenting.

  7. Gwendolyn Mulholland

    From your pictures I can see why this is a must stop when visiting. I always enjoy visiting places that are full of history. This place is absolutely gorgeous and your pictures are amazing.

  8. Kristy

    Very interesting history and sites, for sure! I’d love to visit sometime and see everything in person. I’ve always been intrigued by the history and stories in England. I’m unfamiliar with the Bronte Sisters, but now I must check out their books!

  9. Carol Perehudoff

    Thanks, Kristi – Visiting the Bronte home was definitely a unique experience.

  10. [email protected]

    What a gorgeous place to visit…gloomy clouds and all! And, oh, the Bronte history you’ve experienced sounds quite amazing!! I think the carving of the cross you stumbled onto is marvelous. Sounds like quite the stay in such a lovely place.

  11. Carol Perehudoff

    Thanks, Tami. I wish I could have done the entire hike, that’s a real walk through Bronte history. I hope you get to England soon.

  12. Tami

    What an interesting walk through Bronte history! I would love to visit Ponden Hall (as well as the other places) and tour its inner beauty. Oh, just to go to England would be magnificent!

  13. Carol Perehudoff

    Thanks, Hannah. Yorkshire is the place to go if you’re interested in Charlotte and her sisters, definitely.

  14. Carol Perehudoff

    I know, Michele – visiting Haworth and the Bronte house made the fascinating Bronte saga so much more real. The Bronte Society does such a great job with the parsonage.

  15. Hannah Finch - StoryV Travel Blog

    Beautiful piece! I’m so surprised to read that all of them except one died so young and that the village life expectancy was at that figure. Very sad. This looks like a really interesting trip to take in Yorkshire. Thanks for sharing. :)

  16. A Taste for Travel (@atastefortravel)

    Wow, what an amazing trip! I loved reading everything by the Brontes but never imagined the lives they lived while writing their stories. What an experience it must have been to have seen the table they wrote around. And so tragic to learn about the contaminated water.

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