Haworth Main Street

The village of Haworth is, of course, world famous as the home of the Brontë family. The centre retains a lot of charm, with its steep, cobbled Main Street still lined with shops, though many were originally built as textile workers' cottages in the 18th and 19th centuries. These days, rather than the greengrocer, butcher, baker, apothecary and stationery shop that the literary sisters would have known, it holds numerous cafés, gift shops, bookshops and galleries to cater for the masses of tourists that visit. 

On a sunny weekend in summer, the street would be thronged with visitors. On a sunny day in winter there were still plenty of folk about (more in the cafés!) but you could at least see the view and walk without threading your way through the crowds. 

So come with me on a walk down the street, from the square at the top (above - actually more of a triangle) where the Black Bull pub has a commanding site. (This was where Branwell Brontë drank himself silly.) The church is out of shot on the right, behind the railings. The building on the right edge, now a restaurant, was in the Brontës' time the main post office from where the sisters would mail their manuscripts to their publisher. It's said that Branwell used to take refuge here when he was drunk. His friend the postmaster used to let him use an upstairs back room which had a clear view to the Parsonage. Emily would light a candle in her window as a signal that her father had gone to bed and it was safe for Branwell to return home!  

What I most love is that wonderful glimpse of countryside beyond, with the fields and woodland catching the sunlight. 

The Georgian building with the steps, now a restaurant, was once the home of a clockmaker, John Barraclough (1773-1835) and, in Haworth's Parsonage, there is Barraclough clock that belonged to the Brontë family. Emily Brontë borrowed the name for a character named Mosley Barraclough in her novel 'Wuthering Heights'.