Why are Japanese women still bewitched by the Brontes?

Japan

seem to be besotted with the three Bronte sisters: Charlotte, Emily and Anne. It’s a fascination that goes beyond reading and imagining. A disproportionately high number of Japanese women visit the Bronte’s home village of Haworth in the north of England each year, a pilgrimage that has recently been turned into the subject of a novel by Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author Mick Jackson, “Yuki Chan in Bronte Country.”

Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre” may have bewitched generations of Japanese readers, but Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” (rendered as “Arashigaoka” in Japanese) arguably stands as the most influential novel in Japan written by a non-Japanese woman. It inspired a 1988 Japanese film adaptation, which replaces the wild Yorkshire moors with a rocky Japanese volcano, but has also had a profound influence on some of the country’s most important 20th-century women writers, such as Yuko Tsushima and Taeko Kono.
Read all the article: japantimes
Photo: fukuoka

Neighbours of the Brontes.

Read all of this interesting article of Nick Holland on: Anne Bronte

Looking further around Haworth we find hundreds of other names, some of them familiar to Brontë fans and some ghosts from the past: John Feather, manufacturer; William Garnett, innkeeper; James Hudson, shoe maker; Thomas Parker, overlooker of power loom; Joseph Mosley, clock maker; Zilla Wright, worsted maker; Ellis Hird, wool comber; John Winterbottom, Baptist minister; Tabitha Aykroyd (staying with her sister Susanna Wood and listed as ‘independent’, and incidentally one of three unrelated ‘Tabitha Aykroyd’s living in Haworth at that time); William Wood, joiner and cabinet maker (and also the nephew of Tabby and the coffin maker who commented on how thin Emily Brontë’s coffin was); Enoch Thomas, innkeeper of the King’s Arms (friend of Branwell, and also at one time innkeeper of the Black Bull); Mary Whitaker, pauper. These are people who would have come into contact with the Brontës regularly, whether at the church or whilst walking through the streets, but of course they would little have guessed at their hidden talents, and could never imagine how they would put their village on the map for ever.

The shops that we see on Haworth Main Street today were at the time mainly housing, although there were stores such as Barraclough’s ironmongers and Hartley’s grocery. When looking through the census the thing that strikes us is how many of the residents are employed in the wool industry, either as worsted makers, combers, weavers or bobbin makers. These people lived mainly in an area called Piccadilly, or the Pick, and it rapidly became an unhealthy slum with large families living in one room that was always kept warm to aid the wool combing process. The tightly packed houses of the 1840s  that made up the Pick are gone now and have been replaced by modern housing and a new health centre. Even so, you can see where it stood by looking through the archway that lies across from the Black Bull Inn known as gauger’s croft.

John Feather

boards.ancestry/John Feather.  John was a worsted manufacturer in Keighley and employed at least 20 workers.

William Garnett

oldwhitelionhotel William Garnett bought the White Lion in the 1820s and ran it for about twenty years. He died in 1859 after a long retirement and is buried in St. Michael’s churchyard nearby

Greenwood

Effectively the family of Joseph Greenwood (1786–1856), second son of James Greenwood Sr of Bridgehouse, who acquired, or perhaps was given, Springhead Mill when quite young. Though he did not remain in the cotton trade long, letting the mill from 1822 onwards, he remained a strong force in Haworth until the early 1850s, and one that usually worked contrary to the interests of his own brothers. He became an Anglican, a church land trustee, and a Tory, and was thus a natural supporter of Patrick Brontë on most, but not all, issues (he supported Richard Butterfield’s petition to annul elections to the local Board of Health, a move that was a grievous set-back to the cause of sanitary reform). Patrick went to great lengths in the mid-1830s to have him made a magistrate, eventually succeeding in June 1836. The basis of Joseph Greenwood’s local power was land and presumably rent from his mill, which was let to the Merralls. In 1853 he and his sons went bankrupt, and he moved to Utley, near Keighley. Branwell mentioned the elder son disrespectfully in a letter to John Brown in 1840, calling William Greenwood “Prince William at Springhead” (described as “fat”) and ridiculing his “godly” friend Parson Winterbottom, minister of the West Lane (not the Hall Green of the other Greenwoods) Baptist Church at that time, suggesting William may have reverted to a branch of the family’s old faith.  blackwellreference

Angry rows sour Judi Dench's Bronte Society yet again

After trying to put the simmering tensions between traditionalists and modernisers behind them, following a string of resignations that included president Bonnie Greer after last year’s AGM, the warring factions soon re-emerged at yesterday’s gathering in West Yorkshire.
The members of the world’s oldest literary society, whose new president is Dame Judi Dench, who was absent due to filming commitments, were stunned to be told another five guiding lights of the organisation had stepped down from the governing council since Christmas. In a further blow, staff from the Bronte Museum in Haworth, who had formed a senior management committee to help run the society because it was so light on trustees, have also quit. As a result they have handed management duties back to the council. Members have accused the council of acting like the Stasi in the way they have compiled lists of regulations for the society to make it more inclusive. A woman in the audience shouted: “When I read all these rules and regulations I felt like I had come into the Stasi. We need fresh air and openness.” New chairman John Thirlwell was clearly rattled as he tried to present his report to the meeting held in a Baptist Hall across the road from the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth. When interrupted by one member he snapped back: “I’m just trying to deliver my report, if that’s all right with you.” There were then furious exchanges as members fought to be heard over each other, with society bosses threatening to expel the protesters. Alexandra Lesley, who quit as chairman after only six months in the post, was determined to be heard, with a man supporting her screaming, “let her finish” over and over. Vice president Patsy Stoneman, who was chairing the meeting in Dame Judi’s absence, told the man: “If you continue in this manner I will ask you to leave the room. I’m in charge of this meeting.” Members were aghast at the sheer number of resignations and wanted to know why people had stepped down. They were unimpressed by the reply from the platform: “You will just have to ask them.” Member Richard Wilcox said: “I’m looking at this big swathe of resignations and wondering why is this? “Why have so many people resigned? It’s not entirely a mystery but can we have an explanation?” There were also cries that the new council had been elected to find a “harmonious way forward” but had instead “presided over a catastrophe”.
Mr Thirlwell said the resignations had been for a number of different reasons. He said: “It knocked us back but we rallied. I was very sorry indeed to see some of these people resign.” When it was found a journalist working for the Sunday Express, who is a member of the society, was present at the meeting a vote was held to exclude him. Treasurer the Rev Peter MayoSmith said his presence represented a “conflict of interests” and the meeting was private. Members voted 56 to 46 for him to stay. The Bronte Society was established in 1893 and opened its museum in 1895.
It is open to all those with an interest in the lives and works of the Bronte sisters, Emily, Anne and Charlotte. express/angry-rows-Bronte-Society

To Write Invisible – The Brontë Lecture

Interesting article from Nick Hollands weblog Anne Bronte

Yesterday, I attended the annual lecture at the Brontë Society summer festival, this time delivered by acclaimed biographer of Charlotte Brontë, Claire Harman. The venue, Haworth’s large and impressive Hall Green Baptist Church, was packed to the rafters, so much so that I had to take a seat on the upper balcony. There were initial microphone problems, and at one pound a battering noise on the door as if somebody was trying to break in (reminiscent of Cathy at the window of Wuthering Heights), but Claire carried on like the professional she is and delivered a very interesting lecture. Read on: Anne Bronte

Photo's from southpenninessacredtrails

And more beautiful photographes.

 

 

 

facebook/photo/James Fortune-Clubb

A few images taken on the Main Street set for "To Walk Invisible". Shops in the Bronte sisters time.

Pictures from

 

facebook/photo/https:/John Sargent

 

the Image Studio.tv

 

 

The Brontës knew a village that was a scene of constant building activity: new houses and shops were always in the course of construction and old houses were replaced by new.

 

In the time of the Brontës it had booksellers, grocers, tailors, drapers, a clockmaker and surgeons.  Around the miniature square at the church steps (8) were an apothecary, a wine and spirit merchant, an ironmonger (who doubled as a postmaster), a temperance hotel and four inns (the Black Bull, the Old White Lion, the Cross, and the King’s Arms).  In among these businesses were more humble trades: many boot and clog makers, a blacksmith and joiners, plasterers and stone masons.   Many of the buildings on Main Street were built as shops, with large display windows – some with handsome stone surrounds – to attract customers.  The village had a Cooperative Society with a shop, once in the central ‘square’ but later further down Main Street, where its premises, built in 1897, proudly display the inscription ‘Haworth Industrial Cooperative Society Limited Central Stores’ (15).  The village also had a branch of the Yorkshire Penny Bank, which opened in 1860 and by 1894 had moved to what is now the Visitor Information Centre (7), adding the prominent turret on the older building to proclaim its importance. In the time of the Brontës, Haworth was very much a working village.  The main industry was the production of worsted yarn and cloth: worsteds were fine cloths using long-fibre wool.  The work was mainly carried out in factories: the biggest in Haworth was Bridgehouse Mills (24), on the Bridgehouse Beck in the valley below the village. Haworth - Historic England

 

When Mrs. S. A. J. Moore died in August, 1950, a link with a family closely associated with the Brontës was snapped. She was the grand-daughter of John Greenwood, the Haworth stationer who supplied the Brontë sisters with the notepaper which they used for their voluminous writings. Mrs. Moore's mother, Mrs. Jane Ellen Widdop, often came into contact with the Brontës when she was a little girl. tandfonline

Originally a woolcomber, John Greenwood became the stationer and bookseller from whom the Brontës obtained their writing paper. oxfordindex

Barraclough's first shop in Haworth was opposite the Black Bull Inn, at the top of the main street. It is claimed that amongst others who stopped to peer into the shop window was the Revd.Patrick Bronte. Read more: archiver.rootsweb.ancestry/BARRACLOUGH/

 

 

See how Haworth's Main Street was transported back to 1840s for a new BBC drama

HAWORTH'S most visited street has been transformed to resemble the way it looked in the 1840s as part of a major new BBC drama about the Bronte Family. The team responsible for To Walk Invisible has been busy installing replica 19th century style shopfronts and laying compost down on the street to make it look bleaker and grubbier. Preparation work on Main Street began late last month but the "set dressing" intensified last week. A section of the street was then closed to both vehicles and pedestrians from Monday and will reopen at 7pm on Thursday. The closure will allow filming to take place between the Post Office and Croft Street. Several shops have temporarily closed and will re-open at the end of this week. Traffic diversions have been put in place, with pedestrian routes between the upper and lower parts of Main Street signposted.

To Walk Invisible has been written and directed by Yorkshire woman Sally Wainwright and is due to be shown by the BBC at Christmas. Main Street trader Simon Packham, whose shop And Chocolate has been made to look like an 1840s ironmonger's, said he was deeply impressed by what the set makers have achieved. "I'm amazed by the work they've done here, it's incredible," he added.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing this screened." thetelegraphandargus

           

You have to use your imagination here.

And Chocolate in Haworth

First is Tony's book shop (the old Cobbles and Clay), all local produce;
Then there is Daisy Days like you have never seen it, purveyors of fine meats;
Next along, and the only shop with a vague hint of familiarity, is my chocolate shop, er, ironmongers;...
and finally, bright turquoise window frames extinguished, is Catkins, stationers;

The film crew really have done an amazing job here. Even if you saw the changes over the weekend, the transformation today has been fantastic.

I think the only thing left is for me to attempt some 'innocent' and surreptitious product placement amongst the rat traps and knife grinders. Don't tell Auntie Beeb

The Bronte Society Summer Festival 2016.

This weekend, from Friday 10th to Monday 13th June, marks the 2016 Brontë Summer Festival in Haworth. This annual event revolves around the Brontë Society conference, which this year will be held on Saturday at 2pm, but there’s a lot of other great events taking place as well for society members and members of the public alike.

Read more on Nick Holland's blog: annebronte

 

More shots from the wonderful To Walk Invisible film

 

twitter/andChocolateUK

 

andChocolate Haworth ‏@andChocolateUK                           

More shots from the wonderful #towalkinvisible #film #set in #haworth #bbc #bronte #parsonage

 

 

facebook.photo/robin page

Update on the goings-on in Haworth today.

Update on the goings-on in Haworth today. Our shop is now R. Lambert Chemist & Druggist! We feel so lucky to be a (small) part of this amazing film set for the BBC drama "To Walk Invisible" and have watched Main Street transform before our very eyes today! Filming starts tomorrow.

facebook./roseandcompany

 



And

 

thetelegraphandargus/Tourism_legacy_of_new_Bronte_drama/



Haworth Main is now a film set under construction.

Rose & Co.

 

Haworth Main is now a film set under construction. Our shop will form part of the set, the only changes to the shop front will be to the sign as the shop is alr...eady so in keeping with the era! The people on our forecourt are busy making "groceries" for the set, and soil is being spread on the cobbles for a more authentic look. More pics to follow - remember we are closed - re-opening Friday.

Cobbles & Clay will re-open on Saturday 11 June 2016.

The BBC production team, who have been using the upstairs space at Cobbles & Clay for meetings over the past few months, have now started setting up for filming of of Sally Wainwright’s TV film drama about the Brontes ‘To Walk Invisible’, on Haworth’s Main Street.

Filming will take place 6-9 June 2016 which unfortunately means we have to close for a few days but we’re taking the opportunity to make some exciting changes to the café. Our cake fridge and produce deli will be moved closer to the entrance so that customers can get to them without blocking up the till area, and the coffee machine and till are being moved closer to the kitchen. We’re also creating extra seating downstairs, bringing in some new display shelving and adding a lick of paint.

We’re also very excited that our sister gift shop Daisy Days and the cellar of our old premises, which are further down Main Street, will be part of the 1840s set being created for the film. Until filming starts on 6 June, Main Street and all its shops are open as usual.

Also, beautiful photographes of  Mark Davis facebook/photo (click)

 

 

facebook/Hawksbys/photos

And white I had to buy and did buy to my own amazement.

Charlotte Brontë, early June 1854 (letter to Elizabeth Gaskell): “The wedding dress [which was made in Halifax] – I wholly decline the responsibility. It must be charged upon a sort of friendly compulsion or over-persuasion. Nothing would satisfy my friends but white, which I told you I would not wear. Accordingly the dressed me in white by way of trial – vowed away their consciences that nothing had ever suited me so well – and white I had to buy and did buy to my own amazement”

facebook./photos/brontesociety

Sister act: Filming begins on BBC's lavish new Bronte drama To Walk Invisible as cast take over York in their beautiful period costumes

 

 

 A lot of beautiful photographes on dailymail

Poetry at the Parsonage festival of poetry and performance

On the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of July, in association with Word Club, the Brontë Society will be hosting its inaugural Poetry at the Parsonage festival of poetry and performance at the Brontë Parsonage Museum and nearby venues in Ha...worth, West Yorkshire. Acts will include Craig Bradley, Kate Fox, Helen Mort, James Nash, Winston Plowes, Genevieve Walsh and many, many more - showcasing the very best in contemporary poetry in Yorkshire. Marking the summer highpoint of our year-long celebrations to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), the festival will be free-to-enter and filled with fun and frolics for all the family - a fitting tribute to a poet who, together with her sisters and brother, did so much to elevate this vibrant artform