Brontë sisters: Birthplace of Yorkshire literary sisters bought into public ownership for the first time

A terraced house in the village of Thornton, unremarkable from outside, holds the original fireplace before which the Brontë sisters and their brother Patrick Branwell were born.

Now, a community benefit society (CBS) has taken the keys to protect and cherish this literary history as a “missing piece of the jigsaw” that surrounds the Brontë story.

To Steven Stanworth, a director of Brontë Birthplace Limited, this is the culmination of a decade-long ambition and a two year campaign.

Sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne, known for their works including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, are an inspiration not just to women but to all writers, said Mr Stanworth.

“This is the birthplace,” he said. “It’s where it all began. Where the girls were born, it’s where they ran about as children.

“This is social history. Worldwide it has massive appeal.”

For many people, it may be the moors above Haworth and the world-famous parsonage that represents the Brontës but this stone built house is where their story began.

Father Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria moved to Thornton with their elder daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, as he took up a position as curate of now Brontë Bell Chapel in 1815. Within a year, Charlotte arrived, and then Branwell in 1817, Emily in 1818 and Anne in 1820.

Locked and empty for years since closing as a cafe, the house is now numbered 72 to 74 Market Street. Soon visitors will be invited to walk in the sisters’ footsteps, to sit in a community cafe beside their original fireplace or to stay in the bedrooms where the young girls slept. There are ambitions to launch in time for Bradford’s City of Culture 2025.

A full programme is planned for schools, universities, literary enthusiasts or book clubs, artists and creatives, inviting every school age child in Bradford to walk through its doors with augmented reality to bring to life the tales of the sisters and staff.

A community share offer attracted 700 investors from as far away as Japan or Canada, and there have been grants from Bradford 2025 and the Government’s Levelling Up fund. More than £600,000 has already been raised and directors will seek further funding and arts grants - the Grade ll listed house may need a new roof and is certainly suffering from damp.

Inside, amid a jumble of boxes and flickering lights, there is the parlour fireplace before which the children were born. Each room will need to be stripped back, artfully restored.

Already, the house is revealing its secrets. There’s the servant’s hidden staircase, unseen in public before, and the original deeds stretching back more than two centuries. Then original furniture in the bedrooms upstairs, including the Rev Patrick Brontë’s wardrobe and desk.

This is the birthplace of great literary legend, with three sisters who defied expectations of their age, pushing boundaries to challenge the narrative of what women could achieve.

These were three “humble Bradford girls” who succeeded on a worldwide stage due to their passion, determination and Yorkshire grit, directors have said.

Under a 12-strong voluntary committee, which includes the principal curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum and Yorkshire journalist and presenter Christa Ackroyd, the house now is to be “brought back” for Bradford and Yorkshire for the first time in its 200 year history.

This can only enhance Yorkshire’s cultural offering and literary history, said Mr Stanworth. To visitors, on the Brontë Trail or sharing Anne Lister’s story, there is only more to explore.

“Socially, it matters for children,” he said. “To know that people who were born in Bradford - and who weren’t rich - could go on to achieve. Education is key.

“In the Brontës’ time, the house would have been full of noise,” he added. “These were their formative years. We can see in the books, there are certain bits of Thornton still. It is an integral part of the jigsaw puzzle. Now we start the hard work. We need people to believe in us, to believe in this place. I think they will be inspired. It has such a presence.”