7th March 2022

 

Haworth Rectory

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful.  I had marked a bee talk at the Community College but when I arrived there at 10 found out that it was gardening out and about and then the talk round 12ish.  Still I talked to the man who was going to give the lecture.  I am puzzled by all the gardening effort  for the art of growing food needs the assistance of bumble bees.  Who cannot swoon at the sight of a bumblebee's pollen strewn bum deep in the heart of a foxglove flower? 

So I went for a short walk instead, down the canal path, coming up into one of those tiers of terraced houses further down.  We were all going to Haworth in the afternoon.

A drive over the desolate moors, I cannot help but love the North Yorks moor more.  There is the odd farmhouse buried deep in a small valley and you wonder where the lane is to them.  Great wind turbines dot the landscape and I can only hope that one day they will fulfil the need for necessary energy in lieu of oil and gas.  Up on the moors  are also dams of water.

Arriving in Haworth, and I struck by the similarity to the last village we visited - Heptonstall.  A high village eyrie with houses clustered around small cobbled streets, not car friendly at all.  Lots of tourists though milling through the main steep little street, shops selling all that tat that tourists are supposed to aspire to.

We always go out for tea and cake as well, so we walked down till eventually we found somewhere.  The owner was a lady with a very, very loud voice and as we sat down in this 1940's little shop with the news that there was only scones on the menu.  She was kind and friendly and two of our party tried the use of the outside loo (or should I say lav) with newspaper for loo paper - not Izal for goodness sake.

We visited the church and of course the Haworth Rectory where the famous trio of Brontes lived.  We are going back to visit inside the Bronte abode another time.  I fell in love with the quiet exterior of the house its  symmetry of windows.  Bath has spoiled me for rows of house elegantly designed and unpretentious, yes I do know about the Royal Crescent but it presents a symmetrical presence that I love.

My daughter said that there were thousands if not millions buried in Haworth.  So I shall look up that story later! The graveyard was dark and dour with plenty of gravestones in line with their God and the sun.  

You can catch the Bronte bus from Hebden Bridge every hour and we met it both ways coming over the moors, so there is no need to take the car, but Andrew is more than willing to go out for Sunday Drives - do you remember those?

Are flat graves the norm, or are laid flat from the beginning?

Charlotte taught at this school just by the Rectory

The usual sanitary conditions in the 19th century led to many deaths.  The small history is here.  Flat graves deprive the soil of green growth, which of course has the ability to take up matters of decay - not going any further!