May 25: Haworth, Brontes, and Fountains Abbey

Today we drove to the lovely Yorkshire town of Haworth.  We went to the Bronte Parsonage Museum,which is in the home of the Bronte family, then walked around the historic town.  We had planned to make this the entire day, but decided that we really wanted to see one more thing before we are car-less and in London.  we chose Fountain Abbey in North Yorkshire, and it was not only an amazing drive through the moors, but a fabulous site as well.  Fountain Abbey is a very large ruin, and is set in a beautiful garden.  The Fountain Abbey Water Garden does not have fountains, but has wonderful formal pools in the water garden.  After dinner at the carvery, we cleaned out the car and repacked everything into our suitcases for carrying around London.  I wish I hadn't bought so many guidebooks!

Fountains Abbey, from the kitchen area

After parking the car, Alanna and I started down a public footpath and got some amazing views of the valley below the town of Haworth.  We came back up through the Baptist graveyard, and got our first glimpse of the crowded graveyards.  Haworth was a very unhealthy place in the Nineteenth Century, especially as the water was unclean. One gravestone was for a Mr and Mrs. Pickles and their five children, born between 1895 and 1903, all between 9 and 12 months.

 

A very typical view of the moors under cultivation.

We really enjoyed the Bronte Parsonage Museum, especially since it had so many of the personal items that belonged to Charlotte, Anna and Emily Bronte, as well as to their talented father, Patrick who was recommended to the position at Haworth by William Wilburforce, and to their brother Branworth, who suffered from addictions and died very young.  Pictures are not allowed, perhaps because the end up on the Internet, but we were allowed to photograph outside in the garden.

We went into the church in Haworth.  It was rebuilt right after Reverend Patrick Bronte died, and the Brontes are buried near where their pew used to be.  The area is called the Bronte chapel.

The crowded Haworth graveyard, near where the Bronte servants are buried.

The Bronte memorial

The west window.  On the little table in front we got a fundraising calendar of the men of Haworth.  Nude.

Last weekend the town had a 1940's celebration, and the town was still decorated for this.  

	This is the historic rail station at Haworth.  There are lots of viaducts in the area, and we drove by lots of them.

We began to wonder what Jane Eyre was so upset about, wandering on the moors.  They were lovely!

 Fountains Abvbey was so amazing that we decided not to use the word anymore.  Everything is now "of great historic importance" (GHI) or of Great Natural Beauty (GNB).  Here are a few of our shots:

The formal water gardens were very beautiful.  There is a section called "Quebec" that has a monument to General Wolfe.  The gardens were both GNB and GHI.

Monument to Wolfe in "Quebec"