Brontë Parsonage Museum

Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire is a museum dedicated to the magnificent life and works of the Brontë sisters. Located in the house where they spent the majority of their lives, the Museum offers an excellent insight into the story of Britain’s most celebrated female novelists.

Brontë Parsonage Museum history

The Brontë family moved to Haworth in 1820, following Patrick Brontë’s appointment as incumbent of the town’s parish church. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne were all under the age of 5 at the time of the move, and spent the remainder of their lives with the parsonage as their home.

Whilst there, the siblings were given an unconventional education by their father in which their imaginations were encouraged to merge with the politics and history they read. He himself was a writer whose published volumes of poetry and fiction adorned the Brontë’s bookshelves, also brimming with with great works at their disposal.

The rugged setting of Haworth would also inspire the sisters’ writing profusely, with their home situated on the edge of the moors amongst landscapes not unlike those found in Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. This wild and provincial aspect of the sisters’ writing enthralled its metropolitan readers in the 19th century, and today draws visitors from all over the world in search of what is now termed Brontë Country.

Brontë Parsonage Museum today

Full of family memorabilia and original furniture, today the museum is a wonderful opportunity to explore the lives of Emily, Anne and Charlotte Brontë. Not only can you explore the sisters’ bedrooms, kitchen and servants’ rooms but there’s also the chance to explore the world’s most comprehensive collection of original Brontë manuscripts, letters, notes, poetry and early editions of their most famous novels – a genuinely stunning collection for fans and academics alike.

Throughout the year there are a number of events that take place at the Museum, such as special performances of some of the Brontë sisters’ fictional stories and exhibitions such as ’At Home With The Brontës’, an evening which explores the lives of the house’s former residents.

Getting to Brontë Parsonage Museum

Brontë Parsonage Museum is located in Haworth, West Yorkshire just off the B6142, and sits at the top of the town’s Main Street. Parking is available at Museum Car Park and Brontë Village Coach and Car Park, while a number of regular bus services run into the town centre from Bradford, Keighley and Hebden Bridge. The nearest train station is Keighley, 4.5 miles away, from which a bus or taxi can be taken to Haworth.