Top Withens: Why ruined Yorkshire moorland farmhouse with Bronte links will not be rebuilt despite concerns it will 'disappear'

Top Withens, near Haworth, is popular with literary tourists, although its links to the 1847 book have been the subject of scholarly dispute over the years.

Built in the 16th century as one of three ‘laithe houses’ for the sons of the landowner, by the time the Bronte sisters passed the farm on their walks it was inhabited by the Sunderland family, who left in 1896. The last farmer to occupy Top Withens kept poultry there in the 1920s, and it has been abandoned ever since.

The house is not protected – a listing granted in the 1950s was revoked in 1991 – and today forms part of a large estate owned by Yorkshire Water. Their custodianship came about because the three Withens farms were bought for a new reservoir project in the 1900s, only for the plans to be delayed because of World War One.

The Near and Middle farms were demolished around this time and the land rented out for grazing. The tenants were not required to maintain Top Withens – by then already dilapidated due to vandalism and souvenir-hunting – and the water board at the time agreed to take on responsibility for its upkeep.

By the 1950s, the roof was disintegrating and it collapsed around a decade later. The farmhouse’s condition was a concern to the local newspapers as far back as 1949.

In the 1970s, repair and stabilisation was carried out, and further work took place in the 1990s under Yorkshire Water’s supervision. At the time it was described as a ‘managed ruin’.

Retired builder Peter Wroe, of Barnsley, contacted The Yorkshire Post having made several attempts to seek reassurance that Top Withens was being maintained.

Mr Wroe had questioned whether the roof could be replaced and windows fitted. However, the land is now designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and there is no suitable vehicle access to the farm that would allow construction work to take place. The building has no water supply and Yorkshire Water have declined to sell or dispose of it because of the ecologically sensitive location. Any development at Top Withens would require intense scrutiny and a planning application would be complex.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: “The location of the ruins within moorland considered a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and also a Special Protection Area, makes any development of the site, or renovation, extremely difficult.”