Haworth Through The Lens of History

 

Published on Oct 28, 2012

Photography has been entertaining and amusing people since its invention in the 1800's. Nowadays old photographs can serve as a window into the past. In this video we shall blend old and new photographs to help transport you back in time, exploring how the landscape and social fabric of this area has changed.

Full video available on DVD, running time 34 mins: info@bayvideoproductions.co.uk

The History of the Withins Farms, 1567-1930

This year's annual lecture was given not by an academic but by an enthusiastic local historian - Steve Wood. It was accompanied by a fascinating selection of slides, some of which came as a surprise for many members of the audience in the Baptist chapel, an appropriate space for events like this because it is like a compact theatre.

The subject was The History of the Withins Farms, 1567-1930 . Most Society members tramp up to Top Withins at some time, usually in good weather. Steve Wood read a few minds when he suggested that perhaps we should have made good use of the fact that the moors around Haworth and Stanbury were significantly bucolic and that the talk should have taken place on the tops, near the set of restored ruins which are possibly one of the inspirations for Wuthering Heights. But then it would have been awkward for him to show us the old
photos, and the drawings.
mark-davis-photography

 We saw a set of three farms in various states of repair - not only Top Withins, but Middle Withins and Low Withins as well. Only Top Withins remains, the other two having been demolished. Steve gave us a brief survey of the families which had once survived up there, some of them managing hay meadows and keeping cattle, some of them installing hen coops and pigsties. The animals had to come in with the human inhabitants, separated by walls and doors. We saw the careful plans which Steve had drawn. It would have been almost comfortable in winter in the bothy, near the beasts' heat. In one photo, oatcakes could be seen, draped over a beam to dry. They lived mainly on porridge and oatcakes, it seems. Even the dogs were served porridge. Read more: Bronte Parsonage.blog

" I really and truly did see her"!

 

On Anne's Stay at home artist

I found this beautiful illustration Anne made. Here is the story that refers the illustration:

One day in the autumn or winter succeeding Mrs Brontë's death, Charlotte came to her nurse wild and white  with the excitement of having seen a fairy standing by Baby Anne's cradle.
When the two ran back to the nursery, Charlotte was flying on ahead and treading softly not to frighten the beautiful visitant away. None was there besides the baby sleeping sweetly  in the depths of her forenoon nap. Charlotte stood transfixed, her eyes wandered incredulously around the room

"But she was here just now" she insisted

" I really and truly did see her"!

 and no argument or coaxing could shake her from the believe 

 

 http://archive/Marion Harland/ Charlotte Bronte at home

"Significant and exciting"

Bronte blog, ITV News reports briefly yesterday's exciting news about Charlotte Brontë's L'amour filial essay. The Brontë Society website announces the acquisition as well:
The Brontë Society is delighted to announce its acquisition of a significant and exciting autograph manuscript by Charlotte Brontë: a previously unpublished homework essay – known as a devoir – on the subject ‘L’Amour Filial’ (the love of a child for parents), written during her time in Brussels, and marked by Constantin Heger, the married teacher with whom she was deeply in love.
Acquired by private sale for the sum of £50,000, and generously funded by private and public donors, the devoir was unknown until December 2012, when the Society was contacted with news of its discovery in a private library. Expert analysis of the handwriting confirmed its author was indeed Charlotte Brontë.
The single-page document, written on both sides, is composed in French and written on a topic assigned to Charlotte Brontë by Constantin Heger as part of her French lessons at the Pensionnat Heger school he and his wife ran in Brussels. Produced at a turbulent time in Charlotte’s life, it deals with the subject of love for parents in dramatic style, claiming that the child who treats a parent unlovingly is little more than a murderer in the eyes of God.
‘We know Charlotte had a deep love and respect for her father Patrick Brontë, but lost her mother at the age of just five, when she died from what is now believed to have been ovarian cancer,’ commented Brontë Society Executive Director Professor Ann Sumner today. ‘This new and exciting window on her love for her father, written at a time of great turmoil, is of incalculable value to our understanding of Charlotte’s interior life, and will form the focus of much new scholarship.’
Last month the Brontë Society launched a public appeal for donations to help fund the devoir’s purchase, and received over £3,000. ‘The response was magnificent,’ commented Brontë Society Chairman Sally McDonald today. ‘Many individual members of the public sent contributions, big and small, and the Society was also generously supported by the V&A Purchase Fund, which gave us a grant of £20,000, and Friends of National Libraries, which contributed £5,000.
‘To all these donors we offer our heartfelt thanks that we can now preserve this significant manuscript for the nation as part of our unparalleled collection of Brontë manuscripts and artefacts here at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth.’
The devoir went on display to the public at the weekend, as part of the Society’s Annual General Meeting celebration weekend. News of its acquisition was conveyed to members during Saturday afternoon’s Annual General Meeting.

Haworth

 

Heather, harebells, lapwings, curlews and skylarks

ponden-kirk



The Yorkshire Post  and  Bronte blog alerts to yet another (unexpected and particularly stupid) threat to the Brontë country we know and love:

The moorland that inspired Wuthering Heights has remained untouched by time since the Brontë sisters visited its wild beauty in search of inspiration. But now the glorious carpet of heather is in danger of being usurped by invading flora planted by mourners who have scattered the ashes of loved ones on the moors.  Penistone Hill, which features in Wuthering Heights as Penistone Crag, has become a focal point for those brooding on the loss of family and friends.  As a high point above the former Brontë Parsonage at Haworth, it has long been a favourite spot for memorial benches.  But it seems many are no longer content just to sit and reflect, or lay the odd wreath. They now turn up with trees, shrubs and flowers to plant on the moors. Problems have emerged as few are indigenous to Howarth - or moorland in general – and have been spreading through the landscape like wildfire. 

The Brontë Society is concerned that - if left unchecked - the traditional flora such as heather and harebells so beloved by the sisters will be lost forever. The spread of foreign plants is also endangering the fragile habitats of moorland birds that the Brontës wrote about, such as lapwings, curlews, and skylarks.

Penistone Hill has a special place in the hearts of Brontë fans since it inspired the great romantic scene between Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in the 1939 film.  Members of the Brontë Society are so concerned for its future that they have teamed up with Bradford Council to create a memorial garden. 

The aim is to draw the problem away from the moorland wilderness to the tidiness of Haworth Park - where council gardeners can contain the threat of alien spores. The heritage and conservation officer for the society, Christine Went, insisted the threat to the literary landscape and its sites of special scientific interest was very real. She said: “As far as we can tell from the Brontës correspondence the moors have changed very little since they walked upon them..”

< br />  

 Bluebell flowers

""Much of the poems and writing on moorland themes and mentions include heather, harebells, lapwings, curlews and skylarks. “They are all still there - along with a lot of other species. So the last thing we want is non-indigenous species coming in and putting pressure on natural habitats.
“These include a great variety of mosses which are very delicate habitats. It would be so easy to upset the balance and wipe out whole species

 haworth-village.org.uk/nature
wuthering-heights.co.uk/locations/ponden-kirk 
wuthering-heights.co.uk/locations/other-locations
ponden-kirk