In Bronte Country

Unfortunately, the rain was falling with determination as we ventured out, but we forged back into the moors nonetheless. After a brief hike to the Bronte Falls and a last look at the countryside in what was appropriately cool, foggy, and wet weather, we ducked into the warmth of the Bronte Parsonage. Though the Austen’s home in Chawton was well done, this presentation of the Brontes’ home and life were outstanding. Almost all of the furniture in the house was owned and used by the Brontes, which made the experience seem more authentic. The highlights of the home were as follows:

1. The dining room houses the table where the three sisters did much of their writing late into the night, and also read aloud to each other excerpts of their work to solicit feedback. The green couch on which Emily died is also there.

2. Charlotte’s old room held many treasures, including a dress, boots (tiny feet), and a shawl belonging to Charlotte, a copy of the New Testament filled with the doodling of a young Charlotte, her spectacles, and one of her very detailed drawings. Many materials drawn on by Elizabeth Gaskell in her biography of Charlotte (including the original handwritten manuscript of the biography) were also there. This was the room that provided Charlotte with her last views of this world.

3. The Exhibition Room housed Charlotte ’s trunk from when she traveled to Brussels as a young woman, her funeral veil from when her three siblings – Anne, Branwell, and Emily – all died within a year of each other, her writing desk, and a lock of her auburn hair. A cupboard painted with the heads of the twelve apostles is also part of the exhibition. Charlotte mentioned this cupboard in Jane Eyre when Jane is tending to Mr. Mason while awaiting Rochester ’s return.

Though a bit out of the way and thus beyond the reach of many visitors to England , Haworth is most definitely a trip worth making. While one can vicariously experience life on the moors through photographs or paintings (or the writings of the Brontes), neither art nor literature can do justice to their rugged yet pastoral beauty, something that can be fully appreciated only by direct experience. Heathcliff’s stormy and tempestuous personality are as if an extension of the land from whence he comes, the personified embodiment of the environment of the north moors. Though Charlotte traveled farther and more frequently than Jane Austen, I was also able to sense how the former might have felt the confining tedium of daily life pressing in upon her, and the restrictive confines of life in a small, isolated community. Even now, and certainly in the Brontes’ time, Haworth seems cut off from the rest of the world. But the Bronte home was not without its comforts, and though they experienced much hardship and death there, I can see how it would have been a peaceful and sometimes even happy life.

Below is one of the photos that we took during our morning hike:

After purchasing several items for classroom use, Michael and I visited the church to see the resting place of the entire family (except Anne, who was buried in Scarborough ). The church was dark and solemn, and we were its lone visitors. Heavy rain poured down on us as we returned to the car, cold, wet, and (at least in Catherine’s case) none too pleased with the overcast skies. In the car and with the heat on full, we headed for York , land of cathedrals and pudding.

We arrived in York in the early afternoon, and after stopping by the Bloomsbury Bed and Breakfast to deposit our luggage and park the car, we walked straight into the ancient walls of England ’s “Second City.” The name “York” traces its etymological origins to the Vikings, and York , probably more than any other city in England , has a strong Scandinavian heritage. Our first stop was Yorkminster Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral north of the Alps . We explored this massive cathedral on our own for a few minutes, but then made the regrettable mistake of going on a free guided tour, which, I might add, was worth every penny of it. Our guide was Mr. Hodgeson, an elderly gentleman who spent almost as much time trying to remember what he wanted to tell us as the did telling us. This was alternately endearing and frustrating, but as the tour progressed, the scales began to tip heavily towards the latter. Giving away his age, he shared a vivid memory that he had of a fire in the cathedral in the 1930’s. The width of the nave gives to it a lightness and brightness that most other cathedrals from this time period. Also contributing to this, no doubt, were the windows as the cathedral is home to more medieval stained glass than the rest of the cathedrals in England combined. One window is made of over 100,000 pieces of glass, mostly in muted and somber grays and whites, and another was over the size of a tennis court. As with most windows in cathedrals, these were not mere decorations, but conveyed various stories and allegories, and here our guide proved to be somewhat instructive. The amount of preserved glass in the cathedral is all the more impressive when one considers that during the Great War and World War II all of it was removed by locals and stored away so as to avoid it being damaged by German air raids. After the tour, we visited the Chapter House, an octagonal room whose walls are mostly glass, and with no center support for its towering roof, a feat that seems almost architecturally impossible.

The evening’s other activities included a tour of the city and a later dinner at a French bistro. The tour focused on the city’s walls, which date back to the Romans and then later were built on top of by medieval inhabitants. The Roman walls are visible only in small parts of the city, the medieval additions are almost entirely intact, and in fact, are the most extensive and complete set of medieval walls remaining in England. Our guide explained how the soil levels have risen throughout the centuries, and it is amazing to think how the ground level has been raised simply from the detritus of daily living. In a secluded part of the Museum Gardens , we also saw the remains of St. Mary’s Abbey. Though not as old as St. Augustine ’s Abbey in Canterbury , this one was better preserved, still including a number of standing walls. The walk along the top of the walls afforded us good views of the Minster and of the city, and we also were able to have a look inside the towers along the walls. We tried to imagine the sentries at their posts (within shouting distance of the next post) and the archers firing through the specially designed openings in the walls. The walls certainly add to the character of York , and I am glad that the city has decided to go to the trouble and expense of maintaining them instead of destroying them as many other cities have done.

Our tour also took us into the streets of the city, including a charming, narrow street called “The Shambles,” which used to house the city’s butchers, who would display their meat on the still-remaining hooks and board called “shammels.” A unique location among the shops and tea rooms of this street is the shrine of Saint Margaret, who was pressed to death during the reign of Elizabeth I for refusing to give up her Catholic faith. The shrine is located in the saint’s former home, which was located on this street because of her husband’s occupation as a butcher. We also saw the oldest homes in York , which date back to 1480. Upon the completion of the tour, we ate a very late dinner at a French-style café before making a late return to our lodgings. With nine rooms, it was the largest in which we stayed during our trip.