Shameless little boys

The Halifax Evening Courier has an article on High Sunderland Hall, which many critics believe to have inspired part of the architecture of the imaginary Wuthering Heights.

I should like to draw attention to the fact that Shibden Hall has many other interesting stone relics. Some of these are most significant, and I wish to highlight one collection in particular, currently unlabelled and lying behind the folk museum. These are stones which were rescued when the wonderful old house High Sunder-land was demolished in 1950.
I believe that few members of the public are aware they still exist.
They include a wonderful carved coat of arms of the Sunderland family, part of a fluted column, and at least one of the figures (damaged) which formerly crowned the old house's ornate entrance. The latter are most significant, as they are regarded by many Bronte experts as the probable inspiration for the "shameless little boys" described by Mr Lockwood in the first chapter of Wuthering Heights.
T W Hanson (1877-1967), the eminent Halifax historian, president of Halifax Antiquarian Society from 1934-43, favoured the view that Emily Bronte had High Sunderland at least partially in mind when she wrote her immortal novel about Cathy and Heathcliff in 1847. Emily is presumed to have known High Sunderland from her time spent teaching at Law Hill School, Southowram, in 1838-9. Although High Sunderland was grander than Wuthering Heights, many others agree with Hanson; and the interior description of Emily's fictional edifice also corresponded well with the house-plan of our vanished local building. However, High Sunderland's setting is not regarded as correct, and it may well be that Top Withens near Haworth is in the right location.
Hanson's conclusions may be read about in his paper Emily Brontë's Footsteps: the Local Colour of Wuthering Heights published in the Transactions of Bronte Society for 1924. Some experts believe Shibden Hall itself was the inspiration for Thrushcross Grange.
It is a tragedy in itself that High Sunderland was not saved, but another that such important relics are just left on one side, without indication of their origin and significance. These are items which may be considered of great significance to those who admire 19th century English literature, and they ought to be publicised for tourists as one of the prized possessions of Calderdale. May we ask our borough to capitalise on our valuable Bronte links? There are several others too.
The museums staff themselves are not responsible for any lack in these areas. But our local museums service needs much more investment, so as to preserve and conserve the many relics of our local past, which are not currently on display. And improved interpretation is vital too. (David C Glover)

Indeed, we thought the 'shameless little boys' had been part of the rubble after the demolition of High Sunderland. It's good to know they can still be viewed - at Miss Anne Lister's old home too! - and, as the writer of the article says, they should indeed be more publicised.

Wuthering Heights is also one of the first novels author Margie Orford read, as she says to the Mail & Guardian (South Africa).

Do you remember the first novel you read?
Lorna Doone, by Richard Blackmore, a romance set in 17th century Somerset and devon. And Bronte's Wuthering Heights -- both were tiny editions printed in the late 19th century on onion-skin-thin paper that I ferreted out in my grandparents farm house and read in swelteringly hot summer holidays lying by the pool in what was the Transvaal.

The Times the theatre play Darker Shores by Michael Punter (now at the Hampstead Theatre in London) and slips a Brontë reference:

And Punter and his director, Anthony Clark, are equally generous with strange footsteps, inexplicable bumps and bangs, shaking chandeliers and a moving table, as well as the odd spectral figure outside a window that looks out on Heathcliffian branches that might have been flown in from Wuthering Heights. (Benedict Nightingale)

A brand-new edition of the novel, and also of Jane Eyre - the gorgeous Penguin one recently praised by Jane Smiley- is the object of some book-design love on Jacket Copy, a The Los Angeles Times blog.

A bit of Twilight zone, clichéd edition, as seen on Express Buzz (India):

What is common between Mr Darcy, Rhett Butler, Heathcliff and Mr Rochester? They are handsome, sensitive, chivalrous exuding the male machismo and are all fictional characters. (Sohini Chakravorty)

Finally, YouTube user Mattise07 has uploaded a short stop-motion adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Categories: Books, Brontëana, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights