Brontë Country is a name given to an area of south Pennine hills west of Bradford in

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The name comes from the Brontë sisters, who wrote such

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to includ ...

classics as ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

'' (

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 ...

), ''

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 ...

'' ( Emily Brontë), and '' The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' (

Anne Brontë Anne Brontë (, commonly ; 17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) was an English novelist and poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (born Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish c ...

) while living in the area.

Geology

The

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

of the Brontë country is mainly

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

Points of interest

The area includes the village of Haworth, where the Brontë sisters lived, and where the Brontë Parsonage Museum is located today.

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 ...

is said to have been the inspiration for ''Wuthering Heights''. Ponden Hall, which located about half a mile outside

Stanbury Stanbury is a village in the Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury civil parish, and in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The name Stanbury translates as ''Stone Fort'' from Old English. Geography The ...

, is believed to inspire at least two buildings in Brontës' novels: Thrushcross Grange in ''

'' and the eponymous mansion in '' The Tenant of Wildfell Hall''. Thornton, on the outskirts of Bradford, is the birthplace of the Brontë sisters and their brother Branwell (their father was

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Thornton church). The house where they were born still exists as the Brontë Birthplace and is open to visitors by appointment. It is located on Market Street in the centre of the village Other places of interest from the Brontë sisters' novels include Oakwell Hall (Fieldhead in '' Shirley''), Red House (Briarmains in '' Shirley''), and Gawthorpe Hall and Wycoller Hall (Ferndean Manor in ''

'').

In media and culture

The film ''Brontë Country: The Story of the Emily, Charlotte & Anne Brontë'' discusses the area's geography and history, and the history of the Brontë family.

References

External links

Bronte Country

Tourist Information website for the Brontë Country

Tourist information website for Haworth

Web news magazine from the Brontë Parsonage Museum

Website of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronte Country Tourist attractions in the City of Bradford Tourist attractions in Leeds Brontë family

Geology

Points of interest

In media and culture

See also

References

External links