Oxenhope and the Brontes

 

Until the 1840's Oxenhope was part of Haworth parish and Anglicans who wished to attend church had to take the long walk up to Haworth for services. As the population grew it was decided that Oxenhope needed its own church and the then vicar of Haworth, Patrick Brontë, sent his curate Joseph Brett Grant to establish the new parish. Initially services were held in other buildings but Grant was an effective fundraiser and by February 1849 the foundation stone for a parish church was laid and the building finished just eight months later. Brett was a popular and respected vicar who served the parish for over 30 years. The stained glass windows in the choir are dedicated to his memory. visitbradford

Photo: The original vicarage built for Joseph Brett Grant, Patrick Brontë’s former curate

Until 1845 anyone in Oxenhope who wished to attend an Anglican church had to walk to Haworth and back to do so. Otherwise the only churches available were Methodist and Baptist. Then an Act of Parliament said that anywhere needing a church could build one. As the population had increased because of the mills, the Rev. Patrick Bronte of Haworth sent his curate, the Rev. Joseph Brett Grant to start the church in Oxenhope. He had to hold services in a house at the top of the catsteps, although nobody now knows which one it was. He was allowed to perform baptisms, but marriages and funerals could only take place in a church. As a school and vicarage were needed as well as a church, it was decided to build the school first. This was completed in 1846, and services were held there. The Rev. Brett Grant raised money by approaching people, telling them he needed money to build a church, holding out his hand and asking them how much they would give him. Charlotte Bronte described him in her novel 'Shirley' under the name of the Rev. Don, adding that
he had walked so far he had worn out 14 pairs of shoes! She quite rightly described him as 'the champion beggar'. As a result of his persistence, the foundation stone was laid on 14 February 1849 and the finished building was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon on 11 October 1849. The total cost was £1308. thesunflowertrust

Arthur Bell Nicholls’s predecessor as Patrick’s curate at Haworth, taking up the position in late 1844, and performing his last duties in May 1845. He became curate and later perpetual curate in nearby Oxenhope, and was a close ally of Nicholls during his dispute with Patrick over his suit for Charlotte’s hand; when they finally married he and his wife were asked “to the breakfast – not the ceremony” as Charlotte told Ellen Nussey firmly (letter of 16 June 1854). He was a pall-bearer at Patrick’s funeral. Judging by Charlotte’s portrait of him as Mr Donne in Shirley she disliked him intensely, finding him conceited, intrusive, and insensitive. She acknowledged the portrait was of him, and remarked wonderingly that “It is a curious fact that since he read ‘Shirley’ he has come to the house oftener than ever and been remarkably meek and assiduous to please” (to WSW, 3 Apr 1850). He married Sarah Anne Turner, of Woodford in Essex, and if Shirley and Mr Donne are any guide she was “a most sensible, quiet, lady-like little woman” and “the making of him” (ch. 37). The man had much to endure, including Mr Brontë sometimes addressing him as Mr Donne (W & S, v. 4, p. 258), but it seems likely his self-esteem pulled him through. One would certainly not have wished to be among the audience at the Haworth Mechanics’ Institute being addressed by him “on the advantages of knowledge” ... blackwellreference


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