Haworth - The Bronte Sisters

 Dear Gentle Readers

We left Nottingham to travel to Bradford, our hotel for the night. Next morning bright and early we drove into Haworth to the Bronte Parsonage and Museum. I was here 18 years ago and only paid for one hour's parking. We got so engrossed it took two hours to see everything and we emerged to find a £50 fine on the windscreen. This time I put in two hours, not getting caught again!

The Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne are known for their classic novels, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey respectively. This is the only known portrait of the three girls, painted by their brother Branwell. He was originally in the painting but later he blurred himself out which you can see between Charlotte and Emily. It was forgotten and found many years later folded up in a desk, hence the fold marks.

This couch was in the living room. It was said that Emily died on this couch. Both Emily and Anne plus their brother Branwell died of tuberculosis.

This is their house, the Parsonage attached to the adjacent church. The sisters, lived, wrote and most of them died here. Anne died at Scarborough, where she went because she thought the sea air might help her.

This is Charlotte's writing desk. All the sisters had their own portable writing desks. Jane Eyre would have been penned on this desk.

No fancy fountain pens or biros in those days, they used quills dipped in an inkwell. Here you see one along with a sharpener as the quills wore out and became blunt after much writing. I find it hard to imagine whole novels being written with such a clumsy instrument, nevertheless they did.

All the girls were skilled in writing, art and needlework. This is a sampler done by Charlotte. All the verses are from the book of Proverbs in the Bible.

This is the pub frequented by Branwell Bronte. He turned to drink and drugs after a failed affair and also died of tuberculosis at the age of 31.

This was the gateway to the church that the Brontes would have used and also through which they took their final journey. It has since been bricked up.

Branwell's bedroom where he spent a great deal of time. As you can see by the state of it, he led a hectic lifestyle.

He was an accomplished artist as you can see from this wall in his bedroom.

This is Emily's writing desk where possibly the most famous novel of all, Wuthering Heights, was penned.

Charlotte, Emily, Branwell, Maria (wife of Patrick), Maria and Elizabeth (older daughters) and Patrick himself are all buried in the church vault below this pillar. Anne is buried in the Scarborough church. Very sad that they all died so young from diseases we can easily treat today.

Memorial stone detailing all the lives of the Bronte family

This is the main street in old Haworth, looking much like it would have in the sister's day.

And finally, a letter penned by Charlotte. Paper was expensive in her day, so they often wrote in two different directions to add more to the letter as you can see in this photo. Also no envelopes in those days, letters were just folded and sealed with wax, you can see the broken seal at the top and bottom of the right hand page.

Tomorrow off to Hexham to hike Hadrian's Wall to the Sycamore Gap.