Latest news with #PatrickBrontë
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- The Guardian
Clean energy should be a priority, not wuthering 'Brontë country' nostalgia
Re Simon Jenkins' article (Ed Miliband would let a turbine farm destroy Brontë country. We need net zero, but at what cost?, 14 July), there might be good reasons for opposing a windfarm on the Yorkshire moors, but Emily Brontë isn't one of them. Nor is the 'turbulent romance' of Wuthering Heights an appropriate filter through which to view the Pennines. The Brontës' local landscape would have changed considerably in their lifetime. They would have seen the rapid industrialisation of nearby towns such as Bradford and Halifax, and the mills that sprang up along the river in Haworth. They would have recognised the benefits of the expansion of the railways despite the impact on the countryside (their brother, Branwell, worked as a railway clerk). The 'historic Brontë village of Haworth' where they grew up was not a rural idyll, but a breeding ground for cholera and typhoid. The Brontë sisters must have applauded the campaign by their father, Patrick, for improved sanitation there, leading to the creation of a local reservoir that doubtless affected the countryside but also saved lives. We cannot afford to cordon off parts of the UK as a nostalgic theme park ('Brontë country'). Nor should we romanticise the lives of a family who grew up in an unimaginably unhealthy environment and died young as a result. The clean energy produced by windfarms is vastly preferable to the polluted environment that Emily Brontë endured, and it is likely that she of all people would have understood why a clean environment should be our first priority. Jane MiddletonBath Some of what Simon Jenkins writes about windfarms in beauty spots, on the necessity to protect the scientific importance of such areas, is unlikely to ruffle many feathers, but much of it sounds more like the Miliband neighbours he references. Only a day tripper wanting to see the moors and dropped off for 20 minutes on a pleasant spring day 'strolls' on the Pennine Way. If you haven't walked to Top Withens on a raw winter day, with sleet biting your cheeks, the wind wuthering, and water being blown uphill instead of flowing down, you cannot understand why the Pennines is such a great place for a windfarm. My great-grandchildren will still be able to walk the Pennine Way, with or without BoddenWakefield, West Yorkshire Simon Jenkins misunderstands what net zero is when he labels it 'a political ambition rather than a plausible target'. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says clearly: 'From a physical science perspective, limiting human-caused global warming to a specific level requires limiting cumulative CO2 emissions, reaching at least net zero CO2 emissions'. And both the IPCC and the UK's Climate Change Committee are clear that it is not just plausible but achievable, with the latter's recent seventh carbon budget providing 'an ambitious, deliverable pathway for the UK to reach net zero by 2050'. So net zero is a scientific concept that is required to stop climate change. Indeed, net zero not only can but must be met if we are to avoid ever more dangerous impacts long into the Redmond-King Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit Simon Jenkins asks what landscapes we will lose in the bid to achieve net zero. He ought, rather, to ponder what will be left of them if we don't achieve this CaplanOxford Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
BBC News
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Rathfriland literary festival celebrates Brontës' County Down link
The first literary festival to take place in Rathfriland will this weekend celebrate the Brontë family's connection to the Literary Festival will feature authors, poets and music in celebration of the area's contributions to the arts, both past and famous sisters' father was a clergyman in nearby Drumballyroney before moving to Ada Elliot told BBC News NI he had been "perhaps been overlooked" in the telling of the Brontë family story. 'Rathfriland is a spectacular area' Patrick Brontë was born Patrick Brunty in County Down in March 1777 - St Patrick's Day - explaining his first name - and changed his surname when he moved to England. Three of his children - Charlotte, Emily and Anne - became authors, with Charlotte writing Jane Eyre and Emily writing Wuthering Heights - both gothic romances set in the north of England, with strong psychological components. Anne Brontë wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which explores themes of social duty and the place of women in the Victorian world."Although the girls are not part of Rathfriland he (Patrick) has a long history here," festival organiser Ada Elliott told BBC Radio Ulster's Your Place and Mine programme."Rathfriland is a spectacular area. We're very proud of it and that's why we want to celebrate it." Historians through the years have speculated on whether Patrick Brontë's Irish roots might have influenced his daughter's writing, and even whether they might have had Irish Down celebrates those links. A signposted Brontë interpretive trail runs for 10 miles from an interpretive centre around Rathfriland and its surrounds, allowing visitors to drive through the area and imagine how the windswept Mournes might have influenced the father of girls whose writing was mystical, passionate and local historian Uel Wright believes more could be done."If you come here you cannot fail to see Brontë signs everywhere," he told BBC News NI. "Roads, homeland, library, nursery, steakhouse - all Brontë." Despite the wave of enthusiasm that led to those celebrations in the 1990s, the stone cottage where Patrick Brontë was born lies in ruins. Mr Wright hopes public money can be used to restore it and celebrate the link."My theory is that unless there's another generation of interest and enthusiasm to keep the Irish Brontë heritage alive, we're going to lose something very important." Mr Wright's great-great-uncle William Wright wrote a book on the Brontës in Wright believes those stories were based in oral history, in which his ancestor had a great interest, and he will examine them at a talk on Sunday in the schoolhouse where Patrick Brontë taught. "The whole Irish part of the story has gone out of fashion but with the upsurge of interest in oral history let's say - this is what we have in Ireland," he says."Let's celebrate it."Later on Sunday author Martina Devlin, who has written a novel based on Charlotte Brontë's honeymoon in County Offaly, will speak in the original church where he preached before leaving Ireland in 1802. The Rath Literary Festival started on Friday and runs until Sunday. It has been organised by the Rathfriland Women's Institute, Rathfriland Regeneration and Hilltown Community Association and will feature music and a one-woman show imagining the sisters in the modern day, by Pauline will read poems inspired by 19th Century women caught up in the criminal justice and mental health systems, and a walking tour will tell the stories of famous Rathfriland residents down the years. The festival was the brainchild of Margot Groves, who said: "We are delighted to be bringing such a wealth of talent to Rathfriland. There is something for everyone to enjoy no matter which genre they prefer." And did the Brontë sisters have Irish accents?"It wouldn't be surprising," says Uel Wright."Patrick never made great pretensions with his accent."I don't suppose we'll ever really know but it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility."
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cottage of Brontës' father to be sold via livestream auction
A derelict farm that was once home to the father of the Brontë sisters is set to be auctioned. Thornbush Farm on Miry Lane, Liversedge, will be sold by Auction House West Yorkshire on February 5. The Reverend Patrick Brontë's former lodging has a guide price of £380,000, plus fees. While the property is currently in a derelict state, in the 19th century it featured two sturdy adjoining stone cottages and was better known as Lousy Farm. In 1811, it became the home of the future Brontë patriarch, "marking"- per a spokesperson for Auction House - "the foundation of one of the most famous literary families in Britain." The farm is set in 8.5 acres of land and has "gorgeous" countryside views. The property, located in Liversedge, is said to command 'gorgeous' countryside views (Image: Auction House) Because of the historical connections, the cottages are Grade II listed, and "in need of an owner who can restore or redevelop the site, subject to the right permissions." The Reverend lived at the farm after taking up his first full ministry. He lodged there with his landlords, Mr and Mrs Bedford. While there, he met and married his wife, Maria Branwell, and they had the first of their two children, Maria and Elizabeth, who sadly died during childhood. He also found time to author and publish 'Cottage Poems.' During their time at the cottage, the family witnessed Luddite riots and a march on Rawfolds Mill, which bypassed their front door. This event was later written about by Charlotte Brontë in her novel 'Shirley.' The young family are thought to have remained at Lousy Farm until around 1815, thereafter living at Thornton, the birthplace of the authors Emily, Charlotte, and Anne, and of their brother, Branwell. Commenting on the property, director and auctioneer of Auction House West Yorkshire, James Pank, said: "This is a unique opportunity to take ownership of a site with a fascinating history and perhaps restore or reimagine a vital piece of Britain's literary heritage." Thornbush Farm in Liversedge will be sold via livestream auction on February 5 at 12pm. To learn more about the property or to book a viewing, buyers can call Auction House West Yorkshire on 0113 393 3482 or visit
