Haworth Old School Room: How Patrick Brontë's passion for social reform helped change Haworth

His attempts to raise funding for a school in Haworth were at first unsuccessful but his vision was eventually realised when the National School Society contributed £80.

The rest of the necessary money was raised by public subscription, and a suitable site between Haworth Parsonage and the parish church was donated by the Church Lands Trust.

In 1832 the school room finally opened its doors. Patrick composed the text which appeared on the plaque, quoting Proverbs XXII.6: “Train up a child in the way he should; and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.

However, to begin with the building housed a National Church Sunday School, and in 1843 he applied for a grant to employ a schoolmaster and open on weekdays too.

For this, he received £60, spending £10 of it on desks.

A blue plaque above the door records that his daughters Charlotte, Emily and Anne and son Branwell all taught there.

In 1850 one of Patrick’s curates, Arthur Bell Nichols, secured funds to build an extension and it was completed the following year.

In 1854 the school hosted the wedding reception of Charlotte Brontë and Nichols, which was attended by 500 guests.

The building ceased being a school in 1903, and since then it has served many different purposes including use as an army billet in the Second World War, a youth hostel, gymnasium and library.