Redecorating the Parsonage

Redecorating the Parsonage

Experts have been called in to help recreate the interior decoration at one of the most famous literary homes in the country.They are examining minute samples of paint and scrutinising small pieces of wallpaper in an effort to uncover what the inside of the Brontë Parsonage looked like when it was occupied by the famous sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne.The work is being carried out this month while the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth is closed to the public.The aim is to gather enough evidence to recreate the interior of the building in the early 19th century when the house was occupied by the family.Andrew McCarthy, the museum’s director, said when the investigation was completed it was hoped to attract funding and to start the redecoration in the closed period next year.“It’s a very exciting project,” he said. “We’re looking forward to discovering what the house looked like during that time. Who knows what the investigation might throw up?“We already have a book which was owned by Charlotte and covered by wallpaper. We will be attempting to find out if that was a left-over piece used in the house at the time. It might be possible to match that with a paper design of the period.“We have some other examples, including some paper used in a writing desk owned by the family.”The papers could be reproduced as they would originally have been, using wooden blocks or by a modern digital process.The paints would have to be more robust than the original distemper type in order to cope with the 75,000 people who visit the museum every year. Called in to help has been Allyson McDermott, a specialist in recreating period schemes, especially in reproducing historic wallpapers and paints, and Crick Smith, consultants with expertise in analysing paints. (Clive White)

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I really am curious what the result will be

The first two pictures
you see below
are from a book
 of mine

 what I bought

when I visited Haworth

 in 1984

I don't know the period

 of these pictures

but the wallpaper

 and furniture

 are

complitely different

So, what will be the result of

Allyson McDermott

and

Crick Smith?

In a letter to a friend, Elizabeth Gaskell said: 'I don't know that I ever saw a spot more exquisitely clean...Everything fits into, and is in harmony with, the idea of a country parsonage, possessed by people of very moderate means.''The parlour has evidently been refurbished within the last few years, since Miss Brontë's success has enabled her to have a little more money to spend...The prevailing colour of the room is crimson

The furnishings in the Parsonage reflect the simplicity of the late Georgian and early Victorian period. Ellen described the effect as 'scant and bare indeed' but nevertheless, 'mind and thought, I had almost said elegance but certainly refinement, diffused themselves over all, and made nothing really wanting.' Although Ellen stated that 'there was not much carpet anywhere', except in the dining room and Mr Brontë's study, a stair carpet and stair rods were sold at the 1861 sale, along with several other 'Kiddiminster Carpets and Rugs'. Ellen also recalled that Mr Brontë was fearful that the combination of young children, candles and curtains would be a fire hazard. The windows were shuttered at night and curtains were introduced at a later date. An early ambrotype photograph of the Parsonage shows a combination of shutters, blinds and curtains in use in the 1850s. Charlotte purchased curtains for the dining room in 1851 and for her husband's study prior to their marriage in 1854. Damask and muslin curtains are also recorded in the 1861 Bill of Sale.

According to Elizabeth Gaskell, Mr. Nicoll's was originally 'a sort of flagged store-room', probably used for fuel, which could only be reached from the outside. Before her marriage in 1854 Charlotte converted the room into a study for her future husband, the Revd. Arthur Bell Nicholls, who in 1844 had come to assist her father as curate at Haworth Church. A fireplace was added to the room and the present doorway created into the entrance hall. Charlotte died within a year of her marriage, and Mr Nicholls remained at the Parsonage for the next six years to care for the elderly Patrick Brontë. On Patrick's death in 1861, Mr Nicholls returned to his native Ireland, taking with him many mementoes of the Brontë family. He died in 1906 aged eighty-eight, having survived Charlotte by fifty-one years.

Describing her preparations for the room's conversion in a letter dated 22 May 1854, Charlotte wrote: '... I have been very busy stitching; the new little room is got into order, and the green and white curtains are up; they exactly suit the paper, and look neat and clean enough'. Three wallpaper samples were found in Charlotte's writing desk. A fourth sample, held in the New York Public Library, is accompanied by a note, authenticated by Elizabeth Gaskell, which describes it as being a 'Slip of the paper with which Charlotte Brontë papered her future husband's study, before they were married.'