Haworth has long been labelled Bronte country' but did you know that Cumbria, Derbyshire and the East Coast can also lay claim to the literary clan?Categories: Books, Brontëana, HaworthAs the title suggests, Bronte Connections explores the family's link with areas around the county, from Rawdon to Scarborough.
The illustrated volume contains 43 photographs of places associated with the Brontes' lives and works, and a map tracing the locations. Accompanying them are captions offering details relating to the Brontes' connection to each place.
The book is by Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, who lectures and writes about the Brontes' lives and mid-19th century social conditions.
Ann's thorough research and love of all things Bronte shines through, taking the reader beyond Haworth to other places associated with this remarkable family.
Places featured include the Old Parsonage in Market Street, Thornton where, in 1815, Patrick Bronte and his wife set up home with their eldest daughters, Maria and Elizabeth.
Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born here between 1816 and 1820. In recent years the terraced house was owned by writer Barbara Whitehead who restored it to how it looked as the Brontes' home, but it was recently sold to an anonymous buyer.
The new owner could do worse than leaf through Ann Dinsdale's book for an idea of Thornton's Bronte heritage.
In a charming 1910 photograph a group of Edwardians are perched on Ponden Kirk, the inspiration for Penistone Crag, childhood haunt of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.
Cowan Bridge near Kirkby Lonsdale looks as darkly imposing as it would've done to Charlotte when she was dispatched to school there. Her older sisters died after being sent home from the school and it's no coincidence that it was immortalised as Lowood in Jane Eyre.
Other places include Roe Head, Mirfield, where Charlotte met lifelong friend Ellen Nussey; St Peter's Church, Hartshead, where Patrick was minister - his tales of Luddite violence in the area formed the backdrop to Charlotte's novel Shirley - and Law Hill, Southowram, a former girls' school where Emily taught.
The school was built by Jack Sharp, a Heathcliff-like figure who attempted to usurp the fortunes of his adopted family.
The lesser-known Bronte connections are Easton House, Bridlington, where Charlotte and Ellen stayed with friends; Hathersage Vicarage, Derbyshire, where they visited Ellen's brother - nearby North Lees Hall inspired Jane Eyre's Thornfield Hall - and 59 Boundary Street, Manchester, where Charlotte and her father lodged when she accompanied him for an eye operation. While he convalesced in a darkened room Charlotte began writing Jane Eyre.
Then there's Briery Close near Windermere, where Charlotte met Elizabeth Gaskell, resulting in a friendship that produced one of the world's most popular biographies, and The Cliff, Scarborough, where Anne, ill with tuberculosis, went to try and prolong her life. She is buried in the churchyard.
The book wouldn't be complete without photographs of Haworth. These include Main Street - "with its higgledy-piggledy cottages and ginnels, looking much as the Brontes would have known it" - and Haworth Old Hall which served as Wuthering Heights in the first film adaptation of Emily's novel.
There's a lovely 1900 photograph of the Haworth Ramblers, all wearing bowler hats and pocket watches, congregating outside Middle Witherns, a moorland farmhouse familiar to the Brontes, and also included is Top Withens, the inspiration for Wuthering Heights.
It's an interesting read, shedding new light on Bronte mythology, and a handy-sized reference book should you wish to take it on a literary trail.
0 comments:
Post a Comment