High Sunderland Hall was a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

, built c. 1600 just outside Halifax, West Yorkshire and demolished in 1951 after falling into dereliction. The house is perhaps best known for having supposedly provided Emily Brontë with her description of

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 re ...

, the house in her eponymous novel. The building stood just a few miles from Law Hill House,

Southowram Southowram () is a village in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England that stands on the hill top to the east of Halifax, on the south side of Shibden valley. The village falls within the Town ward of Calderdale Council. It is a small Pennine v ...

, where she spent some time as a school mistress.

Background

It has long been held that High Sunderland Hall was Emily Brontë’s main model for the external features of

while Top Withens was the actual location for the house. In 1904 William Sharp in his book “Literary Geography” said. :''“The Withens is on the hill-top above Haworth, and is supposed to represent the situation of Wuthering Heights. The house itself, as detailed in Emily Bronte's famous romance, is a composite picture ; the interior having been suggested by Ponden Hall, near Haworth, and the exterior by High Sunderland, Law Hill, near Halifax. This, at least, is the opinion of those best acquainted with the topography of the subject"''Sharp, William 1904 “Literary Geography”, Pall Mall Publications, London, p. 106. Online reference http://www31.us.archive.org/stream/literarygeograph00shar#page/106/mode/2up The drawing on the right was made in 1818 shortly before Emily saw it and this house would have appeared very similar to the building that she viewed. Later photos show the house in some disrepair. The painting on the left of High Sunderland Hall was created in 1911 by Duncan Campbell. The building was noted for its elaborate and grotesque carvings and Brontë's description of Heathcliff's wild moorland home has unmistakable echoes of the old house. In Chapter I, Brontë writes: The photos below show the resemblance of High Sunderland to Emily’s above description. Photo 1 is the front gate of the house and shows “a quantity of grotesque carving”. Photo 3 is the principal door and depicts even more of these grotesque figures. There are also griffins on the building – Photo 2 shows two eagle like griffins above the arch at the top of the structure.

Photos of High Sunderland Hall circa 1900

File:High Sunderland Hall gateway 4.jpg, High Sunderland Hall front gateway showing some of the grotesque figures that adorned the building File:High Sunderland Hall inside gateway.jpg, The inside of the front gateway. There are eagle like griffins at the top of the structure File:Doorway High Sunderland 1913.jpg, The principal door of High Sunderland Hall showing more of the grotesque figures File:High Sunderland Hall 1913.jpg, The front of High Sunderland Hall

References

{{Wuthering Heights Buildings and structures in Calderdale Wuthering Heights Demolished buildings and structures in England Manor houses in England Country houses in West Yorkshire Buildings and structures demolished in 1951

Background

Photos of High Sunderland Hall circa 1900

See also

References