Top Withens

Top Withens (sometimes spelled Withins) is a ruined farmhouse high up on the moors above Haworth. In the photo above, the ruin is beside the tree up on the horizon. Its setting is reputedly the inspiration for the Earnshaw family house, in Emily Brontë's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. Certainly the Brontës would have known it. They frequently walked on the moors and in their day there were many more smallholdings up there (there was a Middle and Lower Withens too) with people trying to eke out an existence, farming a few sheep and oats. Handloom weaving was common and there were stone quarries around the moors too. It must have been a lot busier than it is now! 

These moors can be bleak. I've rarely been up there when it has not been windy and wet. By the time we left the Brontë Falls behind, the rain had started and continued on and off for the rest of the day. There are few trees and those that survive are twisted and bent by the wind. But we made it to Top Withens, where there is a plaque telling of its history and a few benches for footsore walkers. The farmhouse is right on the Pennine Way long distance path. 

The view from up there is magnificent and makes the trek worthwhile. Haworth lies down in the valley beyond the knoll of trees in the middle distance. I'm sure the area of heather cover is shrinking over the years, though the purple flush is very vivid this year.