Brontë Country
Encyclopedia
South Pennines
South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. It is bounded to the west by the Forest of Rossendale and the Yorkshire Dales to the north...
hills west of Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The name comes from the Brontë sisters, who wrote such literary classics
Classic book
A classic book is a book accepted as being exemplary or noteworthy, either through an imprimatur such as being listed in any of the Western canons or through a reader's own personal opinion. The term itself is closely related to Western Canon and to various college/university Senior Comprehensive...
as Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...
(Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...
), Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
(Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
), and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel by English author Anne Brontë, published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell...
(Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Brontë lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a...
) while living in the area.
The geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
of the Brontë country is mainly gritstone
Gritstone
Gritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...
. There are several places of rugged natural beauty and historical interest.
The area includes the village of Haworth
Haworth
Haworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
, where the Brontë sisters lived, and where the Brontë Parsonage Museum
Brontë Parsonage Museum
The Brontë Parsonage Museum is maintained by the Brontë Society in honour of the famed Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë – in their old home located in Haworth, West Yorkshire, an area of England covered in much open, expansive moorland...
is located today. Top Withens
Top Withens
Top Withens is a ruined farmhouse near Haworth, West Yorkshire, England which is said to have been the inspiration for the location of the Earnshaw family house Wuthering Heights in the novel of the same name by Emily Brontë....
is said to have been the inspiration for Wuthering Heights. There is a historic factory outlet called Ponden Mill near Ponden Hall
Ponden Hall
Ponden Hall is a farm house near Stanbury in West Yorkshire, England. It is famous for reputedly being the inspiration for Thrushcross Grange, the home of the Linton family, Edgar, Isabella, and Cathy in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights...
('Thrushcross Grange' in Wuthering Heights) about half a mile outside Stanbury
Stanbury
Stanbury is a small village in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, west of Haworth, close to the Pennine Way, and on the River Worth. It is approximately 4 miles from the town of Keighley. The surrounding countryside is mainly moors and farmland, but the...
. Thornton, on the outskirts of Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, is the birthplace of the Brontë sisters and their brother Branwell (their father was rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Thornton church). The house where they were born still exists as the Brontë Birthplace and is open to visitors by appointment.
Other places of interest from the Brontë sisters' novels include Oakwell Hall
Oakwell Hall
Oakwell Hall is an Elizabethan Manor House located in the village of Birstall, West Yorkshire, England and set in period gardens surrounded by of country park....
(Fieldhead in Shirley
Shirley (novel)
Shirley is an 1849 social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Brontë. It was Brontë's second published novel after Jane Eyre . The novel is set in Yorkshire in the period 1811–12, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
), Red House
Red House Museum
Red House Museum is a historic house and museum in Gomersal, West Yorkshire, England.Red House was built by William Taylor in 1660, and the Taylor family owned it until 1920. The house had a number of famous visitors. One was Charlotte Brontë, who had been a pupil at Roe Head with Mary Taylor, the...
(Briarmains in Shirley
Shirley (novel)
Shirley is an 1849 social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Brontë. It was Brontë's second published novel after Jane Eyre . The novel is set in Yorkshire in the period 1811–12, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
), Gawthorpe Hall
Gawthorpe Hall
Gawthorpe Hall, a Lancashire County Council property managed by the National Trust is an Elizabethan house near the town of Padiham, in the borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England...
and Wycoller Hall
Wycoller Hall
Wycoller Hall was a late sixteenth century manor house in the village of Wycoller, Lancashire. The hall was the centre of a sizable estate but subsequently fell into disrepair. The ruins are now listed, and form part of Wycoller Country Park.-History:...
(Ferndean Manor in Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...
).
See also
- BingleyBingleyBingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
- BradfordBradfordBradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
- Brontë waterfallBrontë WaterfallThe Brontë Waterfall is a small waterfall located about a mile south west of Stanbury, near Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. The area surrounding the waterfall is mainly moorland and farmland but is part of Brontë Country. It is an area of outstanding beauty and famous for its association with...
- Gawthorpe HallGawthorpe HallGawthorpe Hall, a Lancashire County Council property managed by the National Trust is an Elizabethan house near the town of Padiham, in the borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England...
- HaworthHaworthHaworth is a rural village in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is located amongst the Pennines, southwest of Keighley and west of Bradford. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope...
- KeighleyKeighleyKeighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
- LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
- LumbfootLumbfootLumbfoot is a hamlet in the City of Bradford metropolitan district, located a mile from Haworth and five minute walking distance from Stanbury. The hamlet itself overlooks some fields and a small stream. There are 15 households and a farm within Lumbfoot...
- Oakwell HallOakwell HallOakwell Hall is an Elizabethan Manor House located in the village of Birstall, West Yorkshire, England and set in period gardens surrounded by of country park....
- OakworthOakworthOakworth is a village in West Yorkshire, England, near Keighley, by the River Worth. The name "Oakworth" indicates that the village was first established in a heavily wooded area....
- Red HouseRed House MuseumRed House Museum is a historic house and museum in Gomersal, West Yorkshire, England.Red House was built by William Taylor in 1660, and the Taylor family owned it until 1920. The house had a number of famous visitors. One was Charlotte Brontë, who had been a pupil at Roe Head with Mary Taylor, the...
- SaltaireSaltaireSaltaire is a Victorian model village within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
- ShipleyShipley, West YorkshireShipley is a town in West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford and north-west of Leeds....
- SkiptonSkiptonSkipton is a market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the course of both the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire, on the south side of the Yorkshire Dales, northwest of Bradford and west of York...
- StanburyStanburyStanbury is a small village in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, west of Haworth, close to the Pennine Way, and on the River Worth. It is approximately 4 miles from the town of Keighley. The surrounding countryside is mainly moors and farmland, but the...
- Thornton
- WycollerWycollerWycoller is a village in the Borough of Pendle, in Lancashire, England. It is located 3 miles east of Colne, near to the junction of the Lancashire, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire borders....