Yorkshire terraced house where the Bronte sisters were born to be renovated as a visitor attraction thanks to government grant

Bronte Birthplace Ltd, a community benefit society, announced in October that they had had an offer accepted for the Grade II-listed terrace in the village of Thornton, near Bradford.

The group’s vision is to convert the Market Street cottage, built in 1802, into an education centre and cafe, with letting rooms that would generate revenue to sustain the visitor offering.

This week it was confirmed that they had been successful in their bid for £240,000 of government money from the Community Ownership Fund, which will go towards the refurbishment of the building to bring it into not-for-profit public ownership for the first time in its history.

Bronte Birthplace Ltd said the grant would enable them to renovate the cottage in time for Bradford’s City of Culture year in 2025, and was the ‘missing piece of the jigsaw’ in the story of the Bronte family.

The sisters’ parents moved in in 1815, when their father Patrick became curate of the village church. Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brother Branwell were all born in front of a fireplace which still exists. They moved to Haworth in 1820.

The building was most recently used for a Bronte-themed coffee bar, but owner Mark de Luca put the house up for sale for £300,000 earlier this year.

It has had many commercial uses over the years – including as a restaurant and a butcher’s shop – and although the crime novelist Barbara Whitehead restored the property and ran a small museum in the 1990s, she sold up in 2007.

Among the committee members passionate about bringing the cottage into the public sphere are former BBC Look North presenter Christa Ackroyd, an architect, a Shell executive and the senior curator of the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth.

Also involved in Steve Stanworth, an engineer who also co-ordinates the volunteer action group at the Bell Chapel, the remains of the church where the Reverend Bronte preached before it was replaced with a new building in the 1870s.

Supporters failed in an attempt to buy the house at auction in 2012, but were given a boost this year by an initial grant from the Bradford 2025 fund which enabled them to reinvigorate their campaign once the building was back on the market.

They have now collected £117,000 in pledges from members of the public via a Crowdfunder, and this money will also go towards renovation costs.

The house needs extensive work, including rewiring, roof repairs and the restoration of the original sash windows.

The seven-year plan includes tendering the contract to run the cafe on a franchise basis and appointing a business manager to run the events space and guest accommodation. Links will be forged with the Haworth Parsonage Museum, with plans for a walking trail between the two attractions.