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Ehbygum’s Haworth
and Yorkshire Page
Haworth and the Brontes
The villages and hamlets
to the south of Keighley and to the west of Bradford are mostly fairly nice
places, and some of them rejoice in splendid names like Goose Eye or Egypt. Haworth
might have been just one more commuter village feeding the West Yorkshire
conurbation were it not for the happy chance of the Reverend Patrick Bronte
taking up the living of the Perpetual Curate of the Parish in 1820. He fathered four remarkable children,
Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell.
His lad, Branwell was probably the most interesting of the bunch, a notorious
drunk and Haworth’s first and most famous druggie, but it was his three daughters
whose efforts put Haworth on the map.
They wrote the compelling, passionate novels that have gripped the
imaginations of readers for a century and a half. It’s curious that these three vicar’s daughters from a small
town in the hills of Yorkshire should have created works of such human
insight and passion. So
the three sisters published, and Haworth became a place of literary
pilgrimage, with Bronte fans coming from the ends of the earth to visit the
place where they lived and the area that inspired their novels. From these literary beginnings Haworth’s
tourist business has grown and now it is teeming with visitors most summer
days and through quite a lot of the winter, too. Most of today’s visitors are hardly literary pilgrims, most are
around just for a good day out, and the pubs and shops do at least as good a
business as the old Parsonage, which is now run as a Bronte Museum by the
worthy folks at the Bronte Society.
Haworth Main Street, Shopping, Eating and
Drinking.
Haworth Main Street is a
steep and picturesque cobbled lane, bypassed by a wide, modern road. At the top of the hill it’s lined with all
kinds of shops and eateries seeking to relieve visitors of as much of their
folding money as possible. For reasonably priced souvenirs there’s the
Smallest Shop, and there are plenty of more up-market gift shops. Peter’s of Haworth, nearer the bottom of
the street does sheepskins and fleece rugs at bargain prices: it’s really the
front room of a house – enjoy the coal fire in the winter. Towards the bottom
of the street shops give way to houses, most of which sport bed and breakfast
plaques. The shops range from the
twee to the downright tacky, and the B and Bs from the plush to the
buggy. Take your choice: if you want
to eat, there’s a wide choice from tea rooms to the restaurant in the White
Lion at the top of the street. And
if you want to go posh the Weavers Restaurant at the top has deservedly found
its way into the guide books. If it’s a drink you’re after, the Fleece
has all of Timothy Taylor’s beers on draught, and it doesn’t get better than
that. Ehbygum favours the
Friendly, a small pub and a real local,
in the neighbouring village of Stanbury. For getting around,
Bronte Taxis are definitely the best – just remember to ask the fare when you
book the car. Ehbygum is happy to have
his Haworth home on the Main Street: the place and people are rather
splendid, and a very definite contrast to Tokyo.
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The Three Lasses who put Haworth on the map. |
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