Brontë Country: The Story of Emily, Charlotte & Anne Brontë

think of England and for many people images of green rolling hills thatched cottages warm beer hot tea and cold wet rain will perhaps be some of the first images that spring to mind as accurate as such thoughts may well be England is actually made up of a number of regions or counties as they're better known each with a unique character folklore and traditions of their own the journey you're about to embark upon into Bronte country will reveal a side of England's green and pleasant land that goes way beyond the cozy hospitable counties of the south for this is Yorkshire a beautiful rugged and sometimes desolate landscape that produced one of the greatest literary families of all time the novels of the Bronte sisters collectively Charlotte Emily and Anne were written here in this solid gray stone house on the edge of the Pennine Hills during the 1840s and early 50s when Queen Victoria reigned supreme charlotte brontë is known widely for her novel Jane Eyre a classic love story set against the backdrop of this dramatic countryside the heroine of the title though plane and unlovely to look at earns the love and undying respect of the darkly mysterious mr. Rochester the hero of many a female fantasy for over a century since his creation although Charlotte wrote other novels none of them ever quite matched the reading public affection for miss Eyre and her struggle to find happiness with the man she loved Emily Bronte however produced only one novel Wuthering Heights and thanks in part to a number of classic movie adaptations the story is widely known it's a sinister tale involving deeply supernatural undertones and the villainous hero Heathcliff has ironically become the ultimate romantic leading man and despite his cruel demonic and often chauvinistic behavior even the most modern of women with all their independence and emancipation can still feel a flutter of desire for him there's passion without limit set in the wild Yorkshire landscape and when Catherine the one and only love of Heathcliff's life dies he refuses to be parted from her he digs up her grave and commits many other evil deeds to revenge himself on those he feels responsible for taking his beloved from him eventually his own death reunites them and the ghostly spirits of Catherine and Heathcliff possibly two of the most unpleasant but irresistible lovers ever written are set free to wander the craggy moorland for all eternity weathering heights was launched into a strongly moralistic Victorian society but readers were soon mesmerised by the power of the novel and the magnetic attraction of Heathcliff to this day watering Heights maintains its incredible popularity and undoubtedly this will continue whatever form its publication may take in the future of the three sisters the least well-known writer is Anne Bronte a seemingly gentle person and is responsible for creating the tenant of Wildfell Hall a graphic account of drunkenness and debauchery again set amongst the isolation of the rolling Yorkshire Moors unlike Heathcliff the novel's bad boy Huntingdon is utterly unattractive and despite the virtues of the heroine who has the misfortune to marry him the story has little of the brooding magic found in either Jane Eyre or watering Heights Anne's only other novel Agnes gray was published in a joint edition with watering Heights and the gentle tale featuring the comparatively uneventful life of Agnes the governess not surprisingly went almost unnoticed it may now come as a bit of a shock to discover that this house where such dramatic violent explicit and sexually charged literature was penned is in fact how if parsonage and Charlotte Emily and Anne were the daughters of the Reverend Patrick Bronte the clergyman charged with the moral welfare of this town between 1820 and his death over 40 years later how on earth did three respectable young ladies daughters of a vicar no less who had little life experience outside the walls of this Stern looking house come to write such disturbing literature it's certainly a fascinating story and throughout the course of this program all will be revealed today this remarkable parsonage is home to the Bronte museum where visitors flock from far and wide to see where the Bronte sisters lived and worked but the Bronte story in Yorkshire did not actually begin here in how earth and our first port of call is the little church at Hart's head about 20 miles southeast of how earth the journey to hearts head takes us through Halifax a town that grew dramatically during the Industrial Revolution just prior to the Bronte era when the Yorkshire landscape changed dramatically as men women and children were forced into the factories and mills which were springing up at a rapid pace all too often this new way of life meant little more than economic slavery as the rich mill owners became richer and of the lot of the working man deteriorated the great English him Jerusalem with words by the poet William Blake talks of dark satanic Mills and it was the factories and black landscape of Halifax that were the inspiration for these critical and unfortunately for the common man justified words the reason for this slight detour is to demonstrate that there was opposition to the ravages of progress where machinery took over the work of skilled men it was a time when unemployment meant poverty and probable starvation and groups of York Sherman banded together to protest against industrial progress unfortunately the government of the day were all too aware of the success of the Republican cause in the French Revolution only 20 years earlier and fearing a popular uprising they sent in soldiers to quash the rebels this only served to make the clashes more violent and to the protesters known as the Luddites after Ned Ludd the man who led the first rioters in the destruction of mill machinery became desperate men right at the center of the Luddite movement was Hart's head at the time when the protests were at their most fierce a young Irish curate by the name of Patrick Bronte was sent to officiate in the parish the Luddites made a dramatic impression and Patrick Bronte was never to forget them and he often recounted tales of the battles fought between mill owners and workers to his children in later years looking at Hart's head church today peaceful and even a touch neglected it's hard to believe that this place was once such a hotbed of discontent where the role of the clergyman would have been a delicate one requiring tact diplomacy and an even temper not characteristics it has to be said that the Reverend Patrick Bronte was ever famous for this drawing of Patrick shows him looking rather severe in old age but by all accounts he was a good-looking young man with plenty of Celtic charm whilst that hearted Patrick met another Celt but this time of Cornish origin a young lady one Maria Branwell who called him my dear saucy Pat the couple were soon married and it wasn't long before two Bronte sisters who few people have ever even heard of were born Maria in 1814 and Elizabeth a year later the growing family then moved to Thornton which is about 15 miles from Hart's head back towards Howarth situated on the sprawling modern-day outskirts of the city of Bradford far more urban than Hart's head the church is less than picturesque but for the Bronte's it proved to be a happy move the now rather dismal looking townhouse was soon crowded with children Charlotte was born here in 1816 Branwell the only boy of the family in 1817 Emily 1818 and finally an in 1820 today a small dark plaque commemorates this as the birthplace of the famous Bronte sisters but just how many people actually pass this way without ever noticing the plaque or realizing the significance of this remarkably ordinary little house is food for thought to have come from a poor Irish family to win a scholarship to Cambridge University and further a successful career within the church spoke volumes for the intelligence and determination of Patrick Bronte and by his very nature he was an ambitious man consequently when the seemingly advantageous promotion to Howarth arose he did everything within his power to get it eventually he was duly appointed and with Anne Bronte just a tiny baby in her mother's arms the large family moved into the parsonage overlooking the Church of st. Michael and all angels much of the information that we have about the lives of the Bronte family comes from a biography written by Charlotte's great friend and fellow author Elizabeth Gaskell and her descriptions of Patrick Bronte's good house help visitors to look at today scenes and picture how things would have appeared when the Bronte family first arrived here the parsonage stands at right angles to the road facing down upon the church so that in fact parsonage church and Belford schoolhouse form three sides of an irregular oblong of which the fourth is open to the fields and Moors beyond no matter how pleasant the outlook might have appeared to the Bronte's upon first impressions at this point in history how earth was rapidly becoming a public health nightmare the steeply sloping Main Street was lined with houses and some of the design features appear perfectly practical however there was one fundamental Town Planning era that literally was to cost thousands of inhabitants of Howarth their lives in the picture of how earth passage at the time of the Bronte's arrival the graveyard is not overrun with the tombstones that you can see today and this transformation took place predominantly throughout their time here the Industrial Revolution had increased the population of Howarth dramatically Middle's can still be seen here today and to the town certainly had its fair share of poverty and disease however the death rate rose at an alarming rate way beyond what it should have been in a rural community at one stage 41% of the population died before reaching the age of six with the most unhealthy districts of London enjoying a better life expectancy than the good folk of Howarth as more people died the worst the spread of illness became and eventually the Board of Health decided to investigate the problem commissioning a report on how Earth's sanitation the chief inspector published his findings in 1850 having discovered that the reason for the extraordinarily high death rate in the town was literally right under the Bronte family's noses the water supply for the town came from the top of the hill at the summit of which the parsonage stands between the parsonage and the town is the graveyard and here lay the problem with the increase in the number of corpses being buried due to the growth of the town bodies were being laid one on top of another under flat gravestones you can still make out the area of the graveyard where this was happening if you look carefully the water supply then ran through this contaminated ground accelerated by rainfall running off the flat gravestones picking up decay and disease before reaching the main street exposing anyone who used the water to infection cholera in particular reached epidemic proportions the more people who died the worse the situation got and so it continued until the problem was identified and of the practice of using flat grave stones was discontinued as a consequence the graveyard at how earth today appears very overcrowded as tall upright headstones were used instead the words carved into the grey weathered stones make for fascinating reading a sad tribute to what was very probably an entire lost generation at how earth the daily funeral processions up to the church fall the Reverend Patrick Bronte to offer what little comfort he could became an intrinsic part of parsonage life however within a year of their arrival at howarth the Bronte's had tragedy to cope with that was even closer to home after months of illness mrs. Bronte was evidently dying and all six children had contracted scarlet fever when Elizabeth Bramwell her sister from Cornwall arrived to take charge of the family the youngsters recovered but with no modern medicine to help their mother cope with cancer mrs. Bronte died a slow and painful death the eldest of her six children was only seven the baby not even to her distress at them growing up without her was reflected in her tormented dying words oh god my poor children my poor poor children the lost of the family was terrible and the scene as mrs. Bronte's coughing passed through this little gate to travel the short distance to the church and her final resting place must have been unbearable Patrick Bronte who mrs. Gaskill paints in her biography as a stern austere father became very withdrawn aren't bran well a devoutly religious woman felt it was her Christian duty to remain at Howarth and look after her dead sister's family the cold Yorkshire climate was a severe trial to her and she longed for the warmth of her Cornish home but she remained with her adopted family for the rest of her life and is in fact buried with the rest of the Bronte's in the vault at howarth Church the Bronte's were by no means a wealthy family and with only one son Patrick knew only too well that his five daughters would need to grow into useful practical women capable of making their own way in life should matrimony fail to be an option education had proved crucial to Patrick Bronte's advancement and he took complete charge of young bramwell's lessons for the girls school appeared to be a sensible choice despite being an expensive business consequently when a school opened for the daughters of impoverished clergymen some 50 miles from howarth at Cowen Bridge it must have seemed and answer to a father's prayers the two eldest daughters Maria and Elizabeth came here first a row of pleasant cottages is all that remains today of what was once a strict disciplined institution typical of the period it was a clergyman that started the school when he became concerned about the number of girls being married in his church who were illiterate and unable to sign their names in the register Charlotte soon joined Maria and Elizabeth with six-year-old Emily arriving just three months later in Charlotte brontë's Jane Eyre there's a vivid description of school life and sadly also school death Lowood the name given to the unfortunate educational establishment suffered poor conditions and this account of mealtimes is far from appetizing the refectory was a great low-ceiled gloomy room on two long table smoked basins of something hot which however to my dismay sent forth an odor far from inviting I saw a universal manifestation of discontent when the fumes of the repast met the nostrils of those destined to swallow it from the procession the tall girls of the first class rose the whispered words disgusting the porridge is burnt again also in the bitter cold climate the weakened girl succumbed all too easily to an outbreak of typhus semi-starvation and neglected colds had predisposed most of the pupils to receive infection 45 of 80 girls lay ill at one time many already smitten went home only to die some died at the school and were buried quietly and quickly the nature of the malady forbidding delay this imaginary story is very much founded on the truth as a short detour to the nearby church will reveal a number of young girls graves former pupils of the tragic school at Cowen Bridge the Bronte family was also hit by a terrible outbreak of disease at the school only this time the cause was tuberculosis or consumption as it was then more commonly known only seven months after her arrival at Cowen Bridge Maria was sent home to Howarth gravely ill nothing could be done for the sick girl and she soon joined her mother in the vault of howarth Church three weeks after this terrible tragedy worse was to come Elizabeth arrived back at the parsonage as ill with TB as her sister had been Patrick Bronte acted quickly and came himself to Cowen bridge to remove Charlotte and Emily so great was his concern sadly Elizabeth died two weeks later but Charlotte and Emily were at least spared back at howarth the surviving four children turned to each other for comfort lessons were managed within the safety of the parsonage walls and the wild moors beyond proved to be an excellent playground for Bramwell Charlotte Emily and Anne there were certainly no children's books lining the parsonage shelves but there was a good selection of literature ranging from the classics to this Goldsmith's encyclopedia helping to fuel their very active imaginations the little Bronte sisters wrote stories of faraway lands and exotic magical people and these were often created out on the moors noted down in minuscule books illustrated with early artistic efforts from bran well this manuscript shows just how tiny their writing was and it's impossible to read it without the aid of a magnifying glass there was however definite method in this seeming madness the Reverend Patrick Bronte would not have approved of his offsprings romantic notions as his eyesight was poor and ever failing the sharp-witted children ensured that he'd never be able to cast a critical eye over what they'd been up to it took some years for Patrick Bronte to consider sending his girls to school again but a little before Charlotte's 15th birthday she set off for miss Wulla school at row head near Hart's head always tiny Charlotte cut a strange figure on her arrival and due to the family's virtual isolation up at the parsonage she even spoke with her father's Irish accent once she'd settled in however she blossomed in the educational environment and when her studies were complete Charlotte returned as a teacher taking Emily with her if Charlotte found fitting into school life difficult for Emily it was even worse many unflattering things have been said about Emily brontë over the years and it would seem that she had a ferocious temper when provoked as well as being clumsy stubborn and rather tactless unlike Charlotte things didn't improve with time Emily wasn't able to adjust and she became more and more homesick when matters became so bad that Charlotte feared for her sister's life she asked for her to be sent home and so ended Emily's brief stay at yet another school later in life Emily wrote a poem which sums up her feelings about her home at how earth others may see a bleak cold building but to Emily brontë nowhere else on earth could compare with this remarkable place there is a spot mid barren hills where winter howls and driving rain but if the dreary tempest chills there is a light that warms again the house is old the trees are bare and moonless bends the misty dome but what on earth is half so dear so longed for as the half of home with Emily's return to the parsonage and was able to take her place at miss woola's and although she too suffered the pangs of homesickness she was altogether a much gentler less abrasive character than Emily fitting in well with her classmates and she successfully completed two years of schooling meantime what a brand well as the only boy of the family much was expected of him and provision for the future was anticipated to be his dutiful responsibility with ambitions to become a portrait painter he set out for London with every penny that could be mustered to further his cause sad to say Branwell was a very bad painter although in fairness he did have a degree of drawing ability he was a complete failure in his chosen career and bran well quickly succumbed to the temptations of London life developing a very expensive taste for alcohol and opium when the family's money ran out Bramwell returned to Howarth in disgrace his chance is squandered and the three Bronte sisters soon realized that they would have to find gainful employment for themselves the daughters of a clergyman even when poverty-stricken did have a certain social standing and education was about to the only field that offered suitable opportunities unfortunately teaching was not an occupation that the Bronte's took too readily Charlotte suffered from depression emily managed just six months at a school in halifax and and loathed her work as a governess Bramwell even tried his hand at being a tutor but he fared little better than he had in London and was quickly dismissed charlatans and tried a number of different teaching posts while Emily remained at the parsonage eventually Charlotte hit upon the idea of starting their own school eden Howarth and entreaties were made to aunt brand well to fund the venture it was decided that Charlotte and Emily should travel to Belgium entering a Brussels school to improve their foreign languages it was a strange decision to take Emily as Cowen Bridge and Halifax less than 50 miles from how Earth had caused her such terrible homesickness and why Charlotte imagined that her sister would be able to cope with the foreign land isn't known perhaps Anne's preoccupation with the Reverend Bronte's new curate William Weightman at that time boded well for an even and marriage tragically as his memorial in the church shows this was not to be as he died of the dreaded cholera like so many other Howarth inhabitants a pattern has been steadily emerging throughout this program whereby ill fortune beset the Bronte family wherever they go Belgium and the Pensione are Hager proved to be no exception although an able student with a fine mind Emily could not settle at the new school where her more sophisticated classmates were apt to make fun of her undoubtedly the only thing that kept her there was the prospect of learning enough to start a Bronte School at how earth when she would never need to leave her beloved home again Charlotte however was in no hurry to go back to how earth she'd fallen head over heels in love with their teacher Constantin Hager when aren't bran well died the girls returned to Howarth and for Emily there was no going back to Brussels but Charlotte was keen to return to the love of her life taking employment as a teacher in his school whether Monsieur Hager encouraged Charlotte flattered by her attentions who can say it's hard to believe that the daughter of a clergyman should so ardently pursue another woman's husband and father of her children without some kind of provocation whatever the underlying reasons Charlotte was desperately unhappy not to have her love returned fiercely anti-catholic Charlotte even made confession to a Catholic priest searching for solace in a strange land a positive outcome in all of this is hard to find but this episode did provide her with wonderful inspiration for her future novels the professor and Viet Branwell had not been completely idle while charlotte was away and had tried his hand at a completely new career with the Industrial Revolution came a brand new transport system and railways began to spring up across the length and breadth of Great Britain towns and cities such as Bradford Halifax and Manchester were linked by the railway over the Pennine hills the very backbone of England even smaller towns like Hebden Bridge were served by the railway and branch lines everywhere put communities like Howarth on the map today the branch line that ran through how earth has been preserved as the Keatley and Wirth Valley Railway and one of its major claims to fame is that it featured in the classic film version of the railway children Branwell was employed as assistant clerk in charge at nearby Sowerby bridge railway station and for a while things looked very promising for him promotion took him to Clarke in charge at London foot railway station but just a year later bran well was dismissed as money was missing from the railway coffers convicted of constant and culpable carelessness he was sacked without ceremony his railway career at an abrupt end Bramwell was unrepentant and turned to alcohol and opium for comfort this is the black bull on how Earth's High Street where he would frequently drink himself into oblivion the apothecary still stands where he purchased his supplies of opium and is today preserved as a traditional drugstore it has however been many years since laudanum the Victorians perfectly respectable readily available form of opium was on sale here and fortunately it's been replaced by much healthier aids to relaxation such as bath oils scented candles and potpourri it was a bleak time for the entire Bronte family Charlotte Emily and Anne were back at the parsonage having failed to make their way in the world the Reverend Patrick Bronte's eyesight was deteriorating at a rapid rate not helped by the fact that he would often be called to the blackball to fetch home an extremely drunk ranting and cursing Bramwell hardly acceptable behavior for the son of the local clergyman who preached temperance from the pulpit on a regular basis if the Reverend Bronte went blind which was at this time a distinct possibility and was unable to fulfill his duties the family would have to leave the parsonage and be in effect hopeless it truly was a case of necessity being the mother of invention and when Charlotte came across a hidden manuscript of Emily's poems the idea of becoming published writers came to her Emily was furious and flew into one of her notorious rages refusing to have any part in Charlotte's money-making plan and used all of her diplomatic skills to pacify her warring sisters and offered some poems of her own and eventually the collected volume was published the girls used the male pen names kura ellis and actin bell but they needn't have worried about publicity few volumes were sold and neither Fame nor fortune came their way motivated at seeing their work in print all three sisters tried their hand at novel writing Charlotte wrote the professor a love story set in a Belgium school and wrote Agnes gray the tale of an unhappy governess and Emily wrote watering Heights already competitive Charlotte was disappointed when Emily and Anne's novels were taken for publication because her own efforts were turned down Patrick Bronte was offered a cure for his poor eyesight he had cataracts which could be surgically removed so Charlotte accompanied her father to Manchester for an operation he needed to convalesce in a darkened room for some time and it was while she sat with him in the dim light that Charlotte created her masterpiece Jane Eyre unlike the professor Jane Eyre was immediately snapped up by the first London publisher to read it and the novel was a huge success this drew readers to take a closer look at watering Heights and Agnes gray and there was talk that Qura Ellis and Acton Belle were one and the same person the author of Jane Eyre standing here amongst the ruins of top Wiggins an abandoned farmhouse that is believed to have been Emily's inspiration for Heathcliff's chillingly haunted home Wuthering Heights it's easy to appreciate the dark temperament of the novel Wuthering Heights is the name of mr. Heathcliff's dwelling bothering being a significant provincial adjective descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which it's station is exposed in stormy weather before passing the threshold I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque carving over the front and especially about the principal door above which among a wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys I detected the date 1500 I would have requested a short history of the place from the surly owner but his attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance or complete departure and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience this is certainly a bleak introduction to the house and to the novel's principal character with his dark-skinned looks and black eyes withdrawn suspiciously under their brows who made his visitor feel that he would like him to go to the deuce when he invited him to walk in to Wuthering Heights from this point onwards the story becomes progressively more sinister and although modern readers find the writing magnificent in moralistic Victorian England the novel was reviewed as a strange in artistic story and people were actually shocked by the brutal cruelty and semi savage love portrayed by Emily top Wiggins is now a popular destination for walkers peacefully watched over by the Sheep who have learned the value of picnic baskets further down in the valley signposts which are even translated into Japanese point visitors in the direction of the Bronte Falls and the Bronte bridge these locations became tourist attractions almost immediately after the successful publication of Jane Eyre as people came from far and wide to see where Charlotte Bronte had found much of her artistic inspiration the view across the waterfall from here to top Wiggins is truly magnificent and encapsulate everything that is the essence of Bronte Country and second novel the tenant of Wildfell Hall was as shocking a tale as watering Heights had been but this story told of a violent alcoholic spiraling to his ultimate destruction graphically described in every ghastly detail by the gentlest and most modest of the Bronte sisters it was without doubt the story of bramwell's drug addiction as he ran amok behind the parsonage 'as closed doors making life a misery for the other inmates when the tenants publisher tried to pass it off as the work of the author of Jane Eyre and watering Heights it was all too much for the ambitious Charlotte to bear and she decided to take her sisters to London to reveal their identities once more the fiery tempered Emily felt her privacy was being abused by Charlotte and she refused to go and even Anne was unable to change her sisters mind this time so Charlotte and Anne went to London without her and despite the fact that the whole world now knew Emily's identity she stubbornly insisted on continuing to write as Ellis Belle for the Bronte sisters of howarth it looked as if their life long run of bad luck was slowly beginning to improve but disaster as ever was just over the horizon the torment of living with Bramwell Bronte came to an abrupt and sad end week from years of alcohol and drug abuse he died at the age of 31 after one of his drunken fits charlotte spoke for them all when she said I do not weep from a sense of bereavement there is no prop withdrawn no consolation torn away no dear companion lost but for the wreck of talent the ruin of promise a sad epitaph for a boy who could never live up to what was expected of him relief at his departure was never given chance to be appreciated as at his funeral Emily caught a cold which developed into pneumonia and eventually tuberculosis stubborn to the last Emily fought for her life in her own way refusing all help until eventually she gasped if you will send for the doctor I will see him now but it was too late within hours she had died the dangerous legacy of her illness was passed to sister Anne and within months she too had died Charlotte brontë was the only surviving offspring from a once large and happy family depressed and grief-stricken she remained with her father at the parsonage and attempted to pour her heart and soul into her writing for which she now received a good income as well as critical acclaim sadly she never again achieved the power drama or success of Jane Eyre for a number of years Patrick Bronte had enjoyed the assistance of accurate Arthur Bell Nichols when Charlotte had first met him she'd not liked him very much but over time she must have changed her mind because when Arthur proposed marriage Charlotte accepted unfortunately for them Patrick Bronte flew into a terrible rage forbidding any such union and mr. Nichols had to leave immediately and find another job some time later he plucked up the courage to ask Charlotte again and this time Patrick Bronte was prevailed upon to give his consent nevertheless he refused to go to the wedding and it was only allowed on the strict condition that the happy couple moved in with him at the parsonage after their marriage it seemed that at long last whatever had cursed the Bronte's of Howarth for so long had finally been lifted Charlotte was at last happily married and when she became pregnant her joy would have been complete but sadly only for a very brief time the pregnancy was difficult Charlotte was constantly sick and with alarming speed she became dangerously weak and died at the age of 39 a funeral procession carried both Charlotte and her unborn child back to this church where only nine months earlier she had entered as a happy bride it was the end of the line for Patrick Bronte who'd advanced himself from a poverty-stricken childhood in Ireland to become a distinguished minister in the Church of England only to see his wife and six children die before him Arthur Bell Nicholls remained with his father-in-law at the parsonage for a further six years until Patrick Bronte's death at the age of 84 there's no mistaking a countryside that's so inspired the Bronte sisters to create the most dramatic works of fiction that any reader could wish to discover from the little town of how earth tumbling down the cobblestone hill to the dramatic moorland landscape that thrilled their very souls you'll not travel far about these parts without bumping into Bronte memorabilia there are many tales about the famous sisters and their wayward brother and most of the places they frequented are adorned with plaques some stories are as remarkable as the great novels it's been suggested that Charlotte actually murdered her siblings by poison under the guidance of Arthur Belle Nichols and the slow administration of arsenic in food would certainly have produced the same symptoms as tuberculosis as far fetched as this may sound it's known that Charlotte was jealous when readers started to appreciate Emily's Wuthering Heights and when one reviewer said that he was greatly looking forward to a sequel the elder miss Bronte was not best pleased some believe that there was a sequel to Wuthering Heights but when Emily died Charlotte burnt it along with all of her sisters letters who can say whether there's any truth in any of these stories or what might come to light in the future but one thing's for certain a visit to Bronte country is full of surprises and a journey following in the footsteps of this remarkable family is one that will never be forgotten you

Channel: The Great British Channel

Views: 325,549

Rating: 4.8098722 out of 5

Keywords: GREAT, BRITAIN, Charlotte Bronte, Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte, Bronte Country, Charlotte Brontë (Author), Brontë Country, Emily Brontë (Author), Brontë Parsonage Museum (Museum), Anne Brontë (Author), British, Brontë Sisters, Wuthering Heights (Book), Victorian Era (Event), Victorian, Haworth (City/Town/Village), West Yorkshire (English Metropolitan County), VTD82289, Brontë

Id: QyTeDZZBphI

Length: 54min 45sec (3285 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 21 2014