Inside the Parsonage - Charlotte's Room.

This was the main bedroom, used by different members of the family over the years, depending on who happened to be at home at any particular time. In the nineteenth century it was more common for people to share rooms and beds than it is today. The room was enlarged at the expense of the little room over the hall in 1850.

 Initially this was Patrick and Maria's room. Maria Brontë died here on 15 September 1821 at the age of thirty-eight. During her painful illness (probably uterine cancer) Mrs Brontë seldom complained, and Elizabeth Gaskell described how she would beg her nurse to 'raise her from the bed to let her see her clean the grate, "because she did it as it was done in Cornwall".'  After Mrs Brontë's death Aunt Branwell moved into this room, and Patrick Brontë occupied the room opposite. At this time Anne was still a baby, and she slept here with her aunt during much of her early childhood. When Aunt Branwell died in 1842 Emily returned from Brussels and remained at the Parsonage acting as housekeeper. Charlotte returned permanently from Brussels in early 1844 and may have taken over the room then. Anne left Thorp Green in June 1845 and probably shared with either Charlotte or Emily from this point onwards. After the deaths of her sisters Charlotte occupied this room, moving out occasionally if guests such as Elizabeth Gaskell came to stay. When Charlotte married she and her husband Arthur Bell Nicholls shared the room. Charlotte died here on 31 March 1855 at the age of thirty-eight. Elizabeth Gaskell described how the gravely ill Charlotte overheard her husband praying beside her: 'Oh!' she whispered forth, 'I am not going to die, am I? He will not separate us, we have been so happy.' bronte.org.uk/museum-and-library