Bronte Parsonage
Bronte Parsonage
Church Street
Haworth, Keighley
W. Yorks, BD22 8DR
Tel: (0)1535 642323
About Bronte Parsonage
Bronte Parsonage Museum is located in Haworth, near Keighley, in West Yorkshire, and run as a wonderful family attraction by the Brontë Society. The 1778 home of the literary Brontë sisters — Charlotte, Emily and Anne — is surrounded by the evocative moorland that inspired their novels and makes for a captivating family day out. One of the oldest literary societies in the world, and a registered charity, the Brontë Society has preserved Bronte Parsonage as a museum and library collection that tells the story of the family and provides a stimulating family day out.
Bronte Parsonage has a dozen rooms that can be toured, beginning with the Entrance Hall and its lock and bar front door, sand-stone floors and shuttered windows. Reminiscences of visitors to Bronte Parsonage in the mid-19th century bring the family attraction alive for ticket holders on a family day out, and an early ambrotype photograph illustrates the house’s blinds and curtains in the 1850s, while damask and muslin curtains are recorded in an 1861 Bill of Sale, and the curtains and wallpaper throughout are based on period designs.
Mr. Brontë's Study is where Reverend Patrick Brontë conducted parish business, and is the heart of Bronte Parsonage. It was here that he learned of Charlotte’s success with Jane Eyre and three engravings of Biblical scenes by John Martin hung in the room. The Deluge, Belshazzar’s Feast and Joshua Commanding The Sun all inspired the young Brontës.
The Bronte Parsonage Dining Room is the key room of the family attraction, being the room where Charlotte, Emily and Anne wrote Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. They walked around the dining table till 11pm, reading and discussing their projects. It was also used to entertain visitors, and was enlarged by Charlotte in 1850 as a parlour. The family attraction retains books of the period on the shelves, as well as oil lamps, rushlights and candles.
The kitchen is the area of the family attraction where the sisters gathered to hear their local servant Tabby Aykroyd’s forboding tales of the Yorkshire Moors, and it displays furniture and utensils that belonged to the Brontës.
Bronte Parsonage also had a store room that was converted by Charlotte into a study for her husband, Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls, including a new fireplace and doorway.
The Servant’s Room was a bedroom and its original doorway has been partly uncovered, along with a mullioned window. Charlotte’s Room was the main bedroom, while Bronte Parsonage’s Children’s Study was a small bedroom occupied by Emily. She and her sisters acted out their plays here and wrote their handmade books.
The family attraction additionally features Mr. Brontë’s Bedroom, Branwell’s Studio, the Exhibition Room and the Bonnell Room, all accessible by ticket on a family day out to Bronte Parsonage. There is limited disabled access, while introductory talks, workshops, drama sessions, artefact handling, creative writing, art and crafts, slide presentations and guided walks to groups offer a fascinating insight into Bronte Parsonage, making for an ideal family day out. Just the ticket!