Brontë Country

Brontë Country is a name given to an area of south Pennine hills west of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The name comes from the Brontë sisters, who wrote such literary classics as Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë), Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë), and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Anne Brontë) while living in the area.

Haworth Pottery

The Haworth Pottery was established by Anne Shaw in 1971 in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. The pottery was initially supported by a loan from the Council for Small Industries in Rural Areas. Shaw trained under Beresford Pealing of Harnham Mill Pottery at Southampton College of Art (now Southampton Solent University) on the professional potters' course. The pottery was housed in a Grade II listed building, a stone, three-storey former handloom-weaver's residence at 25 & 27 Main Street. The pottery had a glaze-room, a workshop with a large kiln and wheel and upper and lower showrooms. Shaw produced hand-thrown domestic stoneware of a type pioneered by Bernard Leach in an Arts & Crafts tradition. The pottery differed, in its hand-made techniques and the type of clay used, from industrial pottery produced locally in the 19th century. The pots produced were high-fired—the second (glaze) firing taken to 1300 °C. Shaw also created ceramic sculptures and received a Yorkshire Arts Association award. Most studio-potteries were located in the South-West, Cornwall and The Cotswolds, close to affluent middle class patronage. Haworth Pottery, therefore, represented a pioneering expansion of the Arts and Crafts Movement northwards, nearer to major industrial settlements. It introduced people familiar only with highly decorated industrial, commercial pottery to an alternative, hand-thrown pre-industrial mode of production with an emphasis on form, texture and glazes, where each pot had individuality. Most of the pottery's output was sold directly to the public from the Haworth showroom or its gallery on The Square, at Grassington, North Yorkshire, with the remainder wholesale to other outlets, including Heal's and galleries. Shaw received commissions from Leeds and Bradford churches, she exhibited at the Crafts Council's Crafts Advisory Committee Gallery in Leeds, the Mid-Pennine Arts Association Gallery in Blackburn, the National Media Museum gallery, Bradford Library Art Gallery, Southampton College of Art, York Arts Centre and, as an honorary member of the Yorkshire Guild of Craftsmen at St Martin's in Micklegate, York. Her work was included in an exhibition of Yorkshire Contemporary Arts & Crafts sponsored by the Hammonds Sauce Company and the British Tourist Board which toured the US. The pottery closed in 1988.

Worth Valley (dale)

The Worth Valley is a geographic area in West Yorkshire, England, that extends eastwards from Crow Hill and Oxenhope Moor, providing drainage for the River Worth for nearly 10 miles (16 km) to the River Aire. It is a side valley to Airedale, with the River Worth being a major tributary of the River Aire. The Worth Valley was important for its contribution to the textiles industry of the West Riding of Yorkshire and was furnished with several reservoirs to allow mills to operate within the valley. Most of the reservoirs are still in use into the modern day. The valley has seen a shift in its industry from worsted, wool, and before that mining and quarrying, into a tourist location. The association with the Brontë family, and the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, has drawn many visitors to the area, particularly from Japan. Connected with these attractions has been the film and TV industry which have recorded shots, programmes, and entire films in the area.

St Michael and All Angels' Church, Haworth

St Michael and All Angels' Church is the Church of England parish church of Haworth, West Yorkshire. The majority of the structure, which is the third church building on the site, was built between 1879 and 1881. Parts of the original medieval church building, notably the tower, survive. The church is best known for its historic association with the three Brontë sisters; their father, Patrick Brontë, served as perpetual curate of the parish between 1820 and 1861.

Brontë Parsonage Museum

The Brontë Parsonage Museum is a writer's house museum maintained by the Brontë Society in honour of the Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne. The museum is in the former Brontë family home, the parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, where the sisters spent most of their lives and wrote their famous novels. The Brontë Society, one of the oldest literary societies in the English speaking world, is a registered charity. Its members support the preservation of the museum and library collections. The parsonage is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England.