Back in the early 1800s, the Brontë sisters regularly tramped across the moor from the parsonage to visit Ponden Hall, the grandest house in the area. The Grade II* listed property in Stanbury, near Haworth, is now a beautiful home and thriving B&B with eight bedrooms and a two-bedroom annexe and is on the market with Strutt & Parker for offers over £1m.
The part it played in the Brontë story is a remarkable claim to literary fame. It is said to have provided inspiration for key elements of Emily’s Wuthering Heights and for Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Fate clearly played its part when owners Julie Akhurst and Steve Brown first walked through the door of Ponden Hall and agreed to buy it on the spot. The house in Stanbury, near Haworth, most of which dates to 1634, had found its perfect custodians. An English literature graduate and Brontë fan, Julie was already fascinated by its connection to Charlotte, Emily and Anne. The property’s breathtaking setting at the edge of the moor and overlooking a reservoir sealed the deal.
The Brontë sisters first visit was in 1824 when they were caught in the great Crow Hill Bog Burst, a cataclysmic mudslide caused by a thunderstorm after days of rain, Anne, Emily, their brother Branwell and servant Sarah Garrs were out walking on the moor and terrified, they took shelter in the hall’s peat loft.
They and Charlotte later became firm friends with the property’s owners, the Heatons, and borrowed from what was described as “the finest library in the West Riding” full of the best books money could buy, including a Shakespeare first folio. The original bookshelves are still in place.
“It’s incredible to think Emily would have sat here reading. We have a catalogue of the books that were here then and they probably influenced her. There were gothic novels and books on necromancy and dark magic, ” says Julie.
When she and Steve bought the Grade II star listed Ponden Hall 22 years ago, it was suffering from benign neglect. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Brontës and as soon as we saw it we had to buy it, ” says Julie. “It’s a magical place in an incredible location. You can feel the presence of history in this house yet it’s also very warm and welcoming.” [...]
The most popular B&B room at Ponden Hall is the Earnshaw room. It features a tiny east gable window that exactly fits Emily Brontë’s description in Wuthering Heights of Cathy’s ghost scratching furiously at the glass trying to get in. The words of the story’s narrator, Mr Lockwood, still gives readers goosebumps: “I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand.”
Julie says: “We think that Emily based that scene on this room because old documents relating to the house describe a box bed in a room across from the library and you can see where it was bolted to the wall by the window. It is just how it is described in Wuthering Heights. Plus the date plaque above the main entrance identifies the hall as being rebuilt in 1801 and Emily’s story starts with that exact date.”
Julie has had a replica box bed made for the room and it pleases Emily fans, who are the most ardent of all. “There is something about Emily that makes people very emotional. She is a complete enigma. People cannot work out how a woman who had a very sheltered background wrote this dysfunctional, violent, sexual, amazing novel," says Julie.
The replica bed is indicative of the attention Julie and Steve have paid to historical detail during a renovation that has preserved and uncovered historic features while providing modern day comforts. The Brontë sisters would certainly still recognise the property, near Haworth. The door, the mullions, beams, wide staircase and the fireplaces are still there, along with their favourite room, the library.
Its shelves may soon contain Julie’s own book. She has enjoyed using her academic skills to research the hall’s past and is hoping to write a history of Ponden Hall. “It would be a fitting tribute to a home that we have loved so much, ” she says. (Sharon Dale)
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