Bronte Country Landscapes

A classic literary walk, taking in some key locations linked to Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

The walk began at Bully Trees Farm, Stanbury and headed up the hill on the track past Lower Height Farm and Upper Heights Farm. Both are still inhabited but are no longer working farms.

Below is the view looking back from just beyond Upper Heights, where the moorland begins in earnest.

Turning round in the direction I was heading, the first clear view of Top Withens on the horizon.

It doesn’t seem to get any closer.

The path is fairly flat on this section but there are a couple of dips where moorland streams flow.

The remains of Lower Withens Farm lie close to the path. This was a substantial building, probably slightly larger than Top Withens, but like most of the farms on this part of the moor, it was abandoned early in the 20th century when it became impossible to make a living from farming and weaving out here. These places were inaccessible for motor vehicles and the cost of installing mains water, electricity or gas was well beyond the means of the people that lived and worked here. One by one the farms were abandoned and fell into disrepair. In the 1930s the local council decided to demolish Lower and Middle Withens, as they were becoming unsafe and posed a danger to inquisitive visitors.

On reaching Top Withens, the visitor is greeted by this plaque, installed by the Brontë Society to explain in very matter-of-fact terms that this is not the house they are looking for.

I didn’t stop at Top Withens, having taken hundreds of photos of it in these weather conditions but continued up Delph Hill.

Next stop, Alcomden Stones, a collection of boulders deposited on top of the moor thousands of years ago during the last ice age. even on a misty day like this, the views from here are magical.

From here, a faint path, mainly used by grouse shooters, leads down the hill past a number of wooden shooting butts towards Ponden Clough.

Continuing around the dizzyingly high path brings you to Ponden Kirk, immortalised as Penistone Crag by Emily Brontë in Wuthering Heights, where Heathcliff and Cathy’s secret meeting place. There are no words to describe the view from here.

The world’s only piece of graffiti created by a fictional person is on a rock next to the waterfall. Or maybe Emily Brontë did it when she carved her own name on the adjacent rock. Or maybe not…

On reaching the bottom of the hill, the mist had lifted and patches of blue sky appeared over Ponden Reservoir.

Heading up the Pennine Way, back towards Bully Trees Farm, there are some wonderful views of Stanbury…

…the Worth Valley…

…and back to Ponden Kirk.

For more information about Haworth and Brontë Country, the Brontë family, local history and traditions, where to stay, eat and drink, go to www.bronte-country.com or www.haworth-village.co.uk