The Brontė Experience
17 September 2003
    
   On the Brontė Trail
The Brontės are one of the most famous and tragic literary families in the world.
Charlotte Bronte wrote Jayne Eyre (1847), while her sister, Emily, wrote Wuthering Heights (1847).  These two novels are amongst the great classics of English Literature.  Their younger sister, Anne, is less well-know but she also wrote two fine novels, Agnes Grey (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848).  Having achieved literary success, they all died.
   The only boy of the family, Bramwell, shared his sisters' literary gift, but not their success, and ended up drinking himself to death at an early age.

   

In 1820, the Irish born Reverend Patrick Brontė came to live here at Haworth Parsonage, bringing with him his Cornish wife, Maria, and their six young children; Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Bramwell, Emily and Anne.  Within a few years, Mrs. Brontė and the two eldest daughters died.  The surviving children, none of whom reached the age of forty, remained at Haworth all of their lives.  Reverend Patrick Brontė died in 1861 at the age of eighty-four, having outlived all of this children.

  

  

  
This is the church served by Patrick Brontė.  During his time in Haworth, the mortality was alarmingly high and he kept his family isolated from the grim realities of life in the village.  It was through this gate that the Brontė children were carried from the parsonage into the church for burial.
   

This is the town of Haworth where, in the 1800's, only half the population lived past the age of 25.  To the right is The Black Bull, where Bramwell spent a good many of his evenings. 

  

  

  
Separated from the townspeople, the four Brontė children turned to their imaginations for entertainment.  They roamed the moors incessantly and created imaginary kingdoms, writing stories and poems about their made-up characters.
   

This is the summit of Peniston Hill, one of their favorite haunts.  I expect it was nicer back then.

  

  

  
These are the Yorkshire moors, which provided inspiration for the settings of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
   

This is the Brontė Bridge, and idyllic location where the children spent many hours playing and acting out their heroic fantasies. 

  

  

  
Brontė fan, Shonagh, sitting on the Brontė Bridge.


For more information:  read Dark Quartet, the story of the Brontės by Lynne Reid Banks
  

Lancashire     Home