Sunday 19 July 2009

wuthering heights

set off in the pouring rain from walshaw dean towards top withens farm near haworth. a very long time since i went there.
along the way despite the rain a few red grouse were seen along with grey wagtail,curlew and a couple of oystercatchers.
birding was not my main aim today as i wanted to see the supposed location of 'wuthering heights' the novel by emily bronte.approaching from withens clough is a bit of a let down as the site does not look as bleak as the title suggests cos you can see all of bradford and leeds in the distance!
to be honest the farm is a bit of a let down as it seems quite well looked after! it still has door on and a bit of a roof!but still they come to see the site.


even the signs are in
japanese!!!


top withens

even the bronte society do not even recognise the farm as the location.


so where is wuthering heights?

the most likely location is high sunderland hall at horley green,halifax,though long since demolished(1950's)the description matches,and emily was working as a teacher at law hill school southowram when she wrote the novel.its a shame the hall was ripped down.

high sunderland hall

9 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Very interesting Darrell. What are the flowers in the tree for?

darrell j prest said...

no idea warren,i think a few have commited suicide here over the years.

Anonymous said...

Great photos, Darrell. I didn`t have you down as the cultural type, though.

darrell j prest said...

lol dean,im a culture vulture! its hard not be into 'wuthering heights' when you live a mile from where it was wrote!

AndyC said...

Wales,squirell blogg .......very very funny.....but you forgot TWITE

Warren Baker said...

Blimey suicide.
I knew those gates in one of your last posts told a story!!

Michael Flowers said...

looking forward to your take on the 18th-century lesbian at Shibden Hall, near Northowram!

darrell j prest said...

oh you mean miss lister? michael,now you have given me an idea!!!!

Dolores Monet said...

I think that High Sunderland Hall is way too big to be Wuthering Heights. Maybe Emily used several sources for inspiration, sort of mixed them up with her imagination. Love the pictures. How sad that Sunderland was destroyed. What a marvelous, old place. Thanks for sharing the pix!