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Haworth, in Yorkshire, is simply a delightful spot to visit, even if it wasn’t a literary shrine to the genius of the Bronte family. Looking down the steep cobblestoned Main Street towards Bridgehouse Beck is simply picture postcard. And the Black Bull Hotel is the perfect spot for an ale, as Branwell Bronte would testify.
Very few tourists would visit Haworth without paying a visit to The Pasonage, the Georgian house overlooking the cemetery. Much of it is furnished as it would have been when the Brontes lived, and died, there. One thing that stays with you is the memory of the miniature books the girls wrote as children.
It was a house of great sadness but feels like one of literary celebration. Patrick Bronte, who died at the ripe old age of 84, saw his wife, Maria, die aged 38, children Maria and Elizabeth die as children, Branwell, Elizabeth and Anne all dying between the ages of 29 and 31 and Charlotte dying aged 38. What genius the three older daughters had – and it was arguably Branwell’s jealousy of their intellect that he basically drank himself to death.
In the early 1800’s it was extremely difficult for female authors to get published, especially when they had themes of sex and violence (albeit fairly mild by today’s standards). But Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre still stand up today for their depth of characters, like the brooding Heathcliff) and the racy storylines. Because of this the girls submitted their manuscripts initially under pseudonyms using the family name of ‘Bell’. Acton Bell was Anne, Currer Bell was Charlotte and Ellis Bell was Emily.
You can visit the places that inspired the novels’ settings like
Ponden Hall (Thrushcross Grange), Wycoller Hall (Ferndean Manor and Top
Withens (Wuthering Heights). Yes, it’s just a ruin these days, but
when the mist rolls across the moors, you can almost hear Cathy calling,
“Heathcliffe, it’s me, I’m home!”
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