The Brontë Way is a waymarked
long-distance footpath
A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents ex ...
in the northern counties of
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...
and
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...
, England.
Route
The Brontë Way starts at
Oakwell Hall
Oakwell Hall is an Elizabethan manor house in Birstall, West Yorkshire, England. The Grade I listed hall is set in period gardens surrounded by of country park.
The house was built for John Batt. A recarved stone dated 1583 probably indicate ...
in
Birstall, West Yorkshire
Birstall is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is part of Birstall and Birkenshaw ward which had a population of 16,298 at the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and p ...
, and finishes at
Gawthorpe Hall
Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in Ightenhill, a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. Its estate extends into Padiham, with the Stockbridge Drive entrance situated there. ...
in
Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
, Lancashire. It runs for . At a steady pace, it may typically take four days to walk.
The route has been designed to link places that have strong associations with the writings of the
Brontë family
The Brontës () were a nineteenth-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848) ...
, incorporating places that feature in their work, such as Oakwell Hall,
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.
She enlisted i ...
's inspiration for Fieldhead in her 1849 novel, ''
Shirley'', and
Top Withens
Top Withens () (also known as Top Withins) is a ruined farmhouse near Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, which is said to have been the inspiration for the location of the Earnshaw family house Wuthering Heights in the 1847 novel of the same n ...
,
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...
's possible inspiration for the home in her 1847 novel ''
Wuthering Heights
''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent r ...
''. The route passes through
Thornton, where the Brontë children were born, and
Haworth
Haworth () is a village in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, in the Pennines, south-west of Keighley, west of Bradford and east of Colne in Lancashire. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope. Nearby villages incl ...
and
Haworth Parsonage, where the family lived.
It passes through
Penistone Hill Country Park
Penistone Hill Country Park is an open space of moorland that is located to west of Haworth and north-west of Oxenhope in West Yorkshire, England. The park's highest point is detailed with a trig point which is above sea level. Since 1994, ...
, open
moorland, and areas of industrial heritage interest; public transport links to the route and its four main sections. Two guidebooks are available.
Further reading
*
*
References
External links
Brontë Country website info on the Brontë Way
Long-distance footpaths in England
Footpaths in West Yorkshire
Footpaths in Lancashire
Brontë family
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