Wallet of Branwell

Bronte Parsonage Museum

From the Treasure Trove

This wallet is the only personal possession of Branwell's in the collection, and it was empty when it was found. It joined the collection here at the Parsonage in 1950.

Anne Brontë copied this scene from Bewick's "A History of British Birds"

Bronte Parsonage Museum

On this day in 1829, the nine year old Anne Brontë copied this scene from Bewick's "A History of British Birds"

Literary heritage: The three-bedroom cottage in the West Yorkshire village of Thornton was once home to the Bronte family

 Patrick Bronte, his wife Maria and their first two children, Maria and Elizabeth, moved there in 1815 and it is where Charlotte, Emily, Anne and  Branwell were all delivered in front of the fireplace in 1816, 1818, 1820 and 1817 respectively. But five years after making it their home, the family moved to the Parsonage at nearby Haworth – which has claimed the spotlight in the Bronte story ever since. The cottage was shut up for years following the failure of a birthplace museum on the tourist trail. It was let as private rented accommodation until it came back on the market last year. The historical home had been rented as bedsits to tenants in search of cheap accommodation but the plaques commemorating the births of the four gifted children outside the faded front door were barely noticed. After the last tenants packed their bags the absentee landlord put the property on the market last year. The Bronte birthplace trust was formed by local villagers to save the property and turn it back into a museum again.  But this scheme failed after Bradford Council decided it could not afford to buy the property. Amid fears it would be turned back into flats, businessman Mark de Luca and his wife Michelle spotted the near-derelict property believing it to be an unpolished tourism gem.

He renovated the home which was suffering from damp and flooding and has turned it into a deli where visitors can look round the Bronte’s private quarters. The cafe is due to open up in May following an extensive renovation. Among other features, visitors will be able to inspect the very hearth where all three sisters were born. It also boasts the writing desk built into the structure where Patrick Haworth wrote his first sermon - about the Battle of Waterloo.

Birthplace: The drawing room still boasts the fireplace, in front of which Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell were all born

The new owners, both 29, sold their cottage in the village to buy the Bronte home. They
snapped it up as a repossession for £120,000 and then spent another £30,000 doing it up. The couple already had a track record, having converted a Grade II listed building around the corner into a hair salon. But it was cheap because the 100 year old timber windows were rotten, the roof was leaking, and the wallpaper was falling off the walls -which were riddled with rising damp. The old scullery at the rear of the property had flooded through the back door with waste from the overflowing drains. Mr de Luca, a former quantity surveyor, said: ‘It was so damp and humid. The drains were overflowing with years of dirt and debris.’‘The property has been mistreated over the years and I wanted to bring tourists back to the village,’ he said. ‘It is a very important property for England and we wanted to reclaim the history and restore the place to its former glory.’ The couple are sleeping in Patrick and Maria’s room complete with the writing desk where he wrote his first sermon – on Wellington’s victory at Waterloo.

 The owners' private living room complete with a wardrobe used by the Bronte family

The second bedroom where the younger Brontes slept has become the drawing room, though it still has the built-in wardrobe used by the children. The third bedroom used by the Bronte children’s nurse serves as a study while the downstairs scullery has become their private kitchen. The rest of the downstairs rooms, including the drawing room with the famous fireplace, have been laid out as a delicatessen and coffee shop with room for 35 people due to open next month. A counter and open kitchen serving cakes, sandwiches, and pastries has been created in one of the front extensions built in the 1900s as a butcher’s shop. The couple hope the trendy décor will attract of a new generation of Bronte fans who previously may have regarded the sisters’ writings as a touch highbrow. Mr de Luca added: ‘We want to make the Brontes cool and trendy. The Bronte Society meetings and events at Haworth seem to attract mainly older people. ‘The original idea of a museum is great - but you do not really get to sit there and enjoy reading a Bronte book or a newspaper.’ Birthplace Trust Chairman Steve Stanworth said: ‘I am delighted. It will  once again be somewhere that Bronte fans can see the actual place the literary giants were brought into the world. ‘It could have been turned into flats - and that would have been a real shame. But Mark spotted a unique selling point for a coffee house.

The original desk where Patrick Haworth wrote his first sermon - about the Battle of Waterloo

Thornton village needs the recognition as the first stop on any pilgrimage and we hope this helps the regeneration of the village.’
Bronte Society Chairman Sally McDonald said: ‘The birthplace in Thornton is hugely important in the Bronte story. ‘In the bicentenary year of 2016 the world’s attention will turn to all places linked with Charlotte Bronte. ‘Some years ago former Bronte Society member, Barbara Whitehead, bought and tried to restore the house but sadly it proved just too big a project. ‘It is a pity the Birthplace Trust’s hopes of turning the house into a museum were pipped at the post but it wasn’t to be and it is heartening to hear the new owners are keen to sympathetically retain the history.’ Patrick Bronte wrote of his time in Thornton: ‘My happiest days were spent there.‘This is where the family was complete: father, mother and children, and where they had kind friends.’ In Haworth, he said, he felt like ‘a stranger in a strange land’.

dailymail.co.uk/

Here you can see how it lookes in Barbara Whitehead's time :kleurrijkbrontesisters/the-birthplace-of-charlotte-bronte

Charlotte Brontë’s time in the city of Brussels.

 

From: Charlotte Mathieson. read more and see more pictures on her website.

Although it is well known that two of her novels, Villette (1853) and The Professor (published 1857) are based on her time as a student and teacher in the Belgium capital, the importance of Brussels is typically given less attention other than as a topographical reference-point for her novels. In my research I’m exploring the legacy of Charlotte Brontë in Brussels over the past 150 years, and this visit was the first step in seeing the sites for myself and meeting the Brussels Brontë Group

 



 



 



A small section of the Rue Terarken, just a few steps away from the Pensionnat, has survived and gives a sense of what the area would have looked like when the Brontë sisters were there: The street is narrow and close, with the overhanging buildings adding to the sense of proximity; it also shows the difference in depth of the past topography of the area, as the photo above is taken from the current street level, and a series of steps descend into the Rue Terarken



There are also the houses of some of the Brontës’ friends in Brussels, including 11 Rue de la Régence, home to the Dixon family and inspiration for Madame Walravens’ house in Villette:

 

kleurrijkbrontesisters/a-virtual-walk-through-isabelle-quarter

Parsonage in spring

Bronte-Parsonage-Museum

Couldn't resist popping outside to take a snap of the daffodils in the garden ‪#‎MuseumWeek

The Old White Lion.

 

 

Ian Howard  https://www.facebook.com/groups/141852959183989/

The Old White Lion.

300 years old ( and where the first Freemason lodge met, pre Branwell )

 

 

Haworth & the Brontes (part 1) Parsonage, Church & Main St

Jane Austen vs Emily Brontë: The Queens of English Literature Debate

The top 75 Yorkshire icons

75 William Wilberforce

73= Stainless steel

73= Dame Judi Dench

72 Yorkshire Sculpture Park

71 Rhubarb

70 Ashley Jackson

68= Whitby Whalebone Arch

68= Rugby League

67 Henderson’s Relish

66 Halifax Piece Hall

62= Roseberry Topping

62= Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

62= Heartbeat

62= Dracula

61= Emmerdale

60 Rievaulx Abbey

59 Kes

58 Wentworth Woodhouse

57 Wuthering Heights

56 Whitby jet

55 Cow and Calf rocks

54 Swaledale sheep

53 Salt’s Mill

51= Sir Patrick Stewart

51= Alan Titchmarsh

50 Yorkshire County Cricket Club

49 Harry Ramsden’s

47= Yorkshire coastline

47= Black Sheep Brewery

46 Flamborough Head

45 Pennines

44 Three Peaks

43 Arctic Monkeys

41= Richard III

41= Dickie Bird

40 Brian Blessed

39 Great Yorkshire Show

38 Settle-Carlisle Railway

37 Last of the Summer Wine

36 Whitby fish and chips

35 Fred Trueman

34 National Railway Museum

33 Bill Mitchell

32 Brimham Rocks

31 Emley Moor Mast

30 Castle Howard

29 Humber bridge

28 Flat cap

27 Ribblehead Viaduct

26 Yorkshire dialect

24= On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at

24= David Hockney

23 Aysgarth Falls

21= North Yorkshire Moors Railway

21= Ilkley Moor

20 James Herriot

19 Geoffrey Boycott

17= White Rose of York

17= Brass bands

16 Bettys Tea Rooms

15 Shambles, York

14 Captain James Cook

13 Bolton Abbey

12 Drystone walls

11 Malham Cove

10 Yorkshire Tea

9 Whitby Abbey

8 Wensleydale cheese

7 Alan Bennett

6 Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal

5 North York Moors

4  Brontë sisters

3 Yorkshire Dales

2 York Minster

1 Yorkshire pudding

 

west-yorkshire-news

 

 

Emily Brontë vs Jane Austen

The Keighley News now has an article on the Emily Brontë vs Jane Austen debate that took place in London a few weeks ago. Emily Brontë narrowly lost to Jane Austen in a prestigious debate over who was the best novelist. Popular modern novelist Kate Mosse led the fight to declare Emily the top writer during the gathering at the Royal Geographic Society. Leading English literature professor John Mullan put the case for Jane Austen during the event in London earlier this month.  Professional actors including Sam West, who played Mr Elliot in the 1995 film version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, performed scenes from both writers’ work. On entering the venue the audience were asked to vote for their favourite author, with Jane receiving 55 cent of the vote and Emily receiving only 24 per cent. After the debate, a new vote gave 51 per cent to Jane and 47 per cent to Emily, with only two per cent remaining undecided. Prof Mullan passionately defended Jane Austen, saying she had a wonderful ability to write simple prose that was actually incredibly complicated. He praised Austen’s descriptive ability, particularly of her characters, and described her mastery at observation and putting an artistic gloss on the world. Kate Mosse described Austen as witty and wonderful, but said she wanted more from a book than romantic characters in pursuit of marriage. She said Wuthering Heights was one of the most effectively set-up novels in the English language, balancing light with dark and calm with chaos. She said the novel was not in love story, but a story of obsession and ghosts, as well as exploring what it meant to be human and to have a soul. bronteblog

Charlotte owned a number of rings.

Bronte Parsonage Museum

From the Treasure Trove

Charlotte owned a number of rings. This one is decorated with pearls and turquoise and measures 18mm in diameter.

The Salutation pub

Picture source

The Manchester Evening News reports that Manchester Metropolitan University will give £235,000 towards restoring The Salutation pub, built in the 1840s. As the article says, The building also bears a plaque marking the site nearby where Charlotte Bronte began to write Jane Eyre on a visit in 1846. (Yakub Qureshi)
This Wikimedia article goes a bit further into it: The blue plaque on the side of this rather nice looking pub says:
Charlotte Bronte (1816 - 1855). In 1846 The Revd. Patrick Bronte came to Manchester for a cataract operation accompanied by his daughter Charlotte. They took lodgings at 59 Boundary Street West (formerly known as 83 Mount Pleasant). It was here that Charlotte began to write her first successful novel Jane Eyre.
So, ambiguous info from Manchester's Blue Plaque people (who are presumably bigging up Manchester's tourist opportunities), but clearly it wasn't this building, which I'd say dates from the 1880s?
The problem is that the plaque was first placed on a building in Boundary Lane some distance to the west. When this building was demolished for redevelopment the plaque was saved. The Brontes were lodging at 83 Mount Pleasant and the eye hospital was then in South Parade, Manchester (until 1867)
The building, as per the Manchester Evening News article, however, does date from the 1840s, not the 1880s. bronteblog

Leeches

Bronte Parsonage Museum

Did you know?

When Patrick Brontë went to Manchester on 19th August 1846 for his cataract operation, he wrote:

“I was bled with 8 leeches, at one time, & 6, on another, (these caused but little pain) in order to prevent, inflammation”.

He also added a note in the margin saying, “Leeches must be put on the TEMPLES and not on the eyelids”!!

A VIRTUAL WALK THROUGH THE ISABELLE QUARTER WITH ERIC RUIJSSENAARS

On 15 February, for our first event of the year we were pleased to welcome Eric Ruijssenaars, who gave us a fascinating slide show of pictures relating to the research he did for his two books, Charlotte Brontë’s Promised Land: The Pensionnat Heger and other Brontë places in Brussels (2000) and The Pensionnat Revisited; More light shed on the Brussels of the Brontës (2003). Eric guided us on a virtual walk of the area round the Pensionnat. Many of those present have already been on one of our actual guided walks and this presentation provided an opportunity to gain a fuller picture of the area and its history. Eric, who lives in Leiden and has been researching the subject for the last twenty-five years, is always delighted to return to Brussels and his old Brontë haunts here.

It is 25 years ago that I started doing research on the Brussels of the Brontës, aiming to recreate the Isabella quarter for her, the lady who had introduced me to Villette. Over the next decades I looked at every book and picture I could get hold of, in archives and libraries, to try to understand what the old quarter had looked like in the days of the Brontës. In 1990 I visited Brussels and the quarter for the first time, with Elle. I remember the excitement of standing on the Belliard Steps, though obviously having no real idea of the world ‘down these Steps’, and what it would all bring. Most recently, my talk for the BBG.

Of invaluable importance was and is the iconic Tahon photo of the quarter, supposedly dating from 1909. For many years it hung on the wall at my desk. The crucial breakthrough came in 2003, when I took the picture to a photography professor of Leiden University. She said it must be an 1850s photograph. It’s possibly the highlight of these 25 years. Finally we fully understood the quarter. By implication it shows us the quarter as it was in 1843.

With all we had gathered then, it had become possible to do a sort of virtual walk through the old quarter, in the mind. Just as I can easily imagine walking in, for instance the quarter as it is now. I hope that those who joined my walk can agree.

One of my last and nicest discoveries was the following picture:

Hotel Ravenstein, circa 1920

It’s a picture of the area where the Terarckenstraat now ends (with Hotel Ravenstein on the right). This time though we only need to climb over the gate to continue our walk, ‘through the mist of time’ (unfortunately I forgot to say that at my talk). At the same time it’s also a sad reminder of the very charming quarter that not long before had been demolished.

Eric Ruijssenaars

 

brusselsbronte/a-virtual-walk-through-isabelle-quarter

 

On Google Earth