The secret's out in Shirley Country

We have compiled a few links to illustrate how Shirley Country has suddenly become alive and proud of its connection to Charlotte Brontë. They have plenty on offer and are doing very well attracting visitors.

Ever since they published the new guide, they have been on the spotlight for their various and interesting activities. It seems that their intentions of getting into the tourist maps are thriving. Here you can read a long article about where the new guide will take you and why the visit is so worth it. If the actual visit is not possible for you, don't fret, there's also a picture gallery with a lot of wonderful images illustrating the Spen Valley and showing the supposed originals for many of the places mentioned in Shirley.

One of the strong points of Shirley Country is the Red House in Gomersal, former home to the Taylor family. Mary Taylor especially but also some of her siblings were friends with Charlotte Brontë and she visited this house several times. The house hosts an award-winning permanent exhibition called The Secret's Out which aims to discover to what an extent Charlotte used real places and people when writing Shirley as well as showing what it was to be a woman living in the north of England in the 19th century. See this pdf file for more info and pictures on this interesting exhibition, and the above-mentioned picture gallery for many more pictures.

Oakwell Hall is a must too. It's supposed to be the original for Fieldhead in Shirley. But there's also monuments, churches, graveyards...

So, if you actually manage to go and have a great time in the area or whether you stay home glued to your computer screen looking at these wonderful pictures, remember it's never a bad time to pick up Shirley and let Charlotte herself take you to these places and tell you the stories of the people living there.

Categories: Shirley, Websites, Art-Exhibitions