Haworth Tourist Information

The old parsonage in Haworth is a fairly unassuming building from the outside but it has put this small town on the map as it was home to the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) and where they wrote their novels. It is now a museum which attracts visitors from all over the world, and in particular from Japan where Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights is something of a cult.

Haworth is high up in the moorland of the Pennines, just three miles from Keighley. The surrounding countryside, though bleak in harsh weather, has an austere beauty in fine weather and makes for good walking country.

Much of the wealth of the area came from the wool and textile mills that once dominated the landscape. Although most of the mills have now been demolished, the steam railway that was constructed to serve the mills still exists, and can be regularly seen huffing and chuffing its way up the steep Pennine hills, on its journey from Keighley to Oxenhope via Haworth. One of the stations on the line is Oakworth, which was immortalised in the film “The Railway Children”. Another station, Damems, is the smallest station in Britain.

In nearby Bradford, there’s a huge array of museums and galleries, and the famous indoor markets with spices and textiles from around the world, reflecting the ethnic diversity of this major city.

One of the suburbs of Bradford is Saltaire, where the Industrialist Titus Salt built a village for his workforce. When it was built it was a model of Victorian philanthropy, with a reading room, concert hall, library, billiard room, laboratory, gymnasium, bath-houses, a hospital, almshouses, a boathouse, allotments and other public amenities. The houses were (comparatively) roomy and clean - a far cry from the slums where most workers lived. Saltaire village is a designated Unesco World Heritage Site. Salt’s Mill, in Saltaire, is host to a David Hockney exhibition.   

Interesting fact: the Irish-born father of the Brontë sisters was originally called Patrick Brunty, but changed his name to Brontë - possibly to impress people.

Things to do and places to visit:

Haworth Village

Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth

Brontë Weaving Shed, Haworth

Brontë Watefall

Brontë Country

Ponden Hall

East Riddlesden Hall, Keighley

Fun Planet, Cross Hills, near Keighley

The Haworth 1940s Weekend

Ingrow Loco Museum, Keighley

Ingrow Museum of Rail Travel, Keighley

Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

Keighley Bus Museum

The Pennine Way footpath

Salts Mill Galleries, Saltaire

Saltaire Model Village

Top Withens

Bradford 1 Gallery

Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford

Bradford Industrial Museum

Cliffe Castle Museum

Bolling Hall, Bradford

Manor House Museum, Ilkley

Bracken Hall Countryside Centre, Shipley Glen

National Media Museum, Bradford

Bradford Markets