Haworth ( ,
Haworth is a tourist destination known for its association with the Brontë sisters and the preserved heritage Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.
History
Haworth is first mentioned as a settlement in 1209.
The name may refer to a "hedged enclosure" or "hawthorn enclosure".
The name was recorded as "Howorth" on a 1771 map.
In 1850, local parish priest Patrick Brontë invited Benjamin Herschel Babbage to investigate the village's high early mortality rate, which had led to all but one of his six children, including the writers Emily and Anne Brontë, dying by the age of 31.
Governance
Haworth is part of the civil parish of Haworth and Stanbury, from 1 April 1999 to 1 April 2023 it was in Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury,
which is part of the Bradford metropolitan district in West Yorkshire.
Haworth was a township and chapelry in the parish of Bradford,
Geography
Haworth is in the
Worth Valley amid the
Pennines.
It is north of London, west of York and west of Bradford.
Economy
Tourism now accounts for much of the local economy, though the
River Worth flowing through the village powered large textile mills providing much employment and later the major attractions being the heritage railway and Brontë Parsonage Museum.
In Haworth, there are tea rooms, souvenir and antiquarian bookshops, restaurants, pubs and hotels, including the Black Bull, where Branwell Brontë's decline into alcoholism and opium addiction allegedly began.
Haworth is a base for exploring Brontë Country, while still being close to the major cities of
Bradford and
Leeds.
On 22 November 2002, Haworth was granted Fairtrade Village status.
Culture
Haworth's traditional events were an annual service at Haworth
Spa and the
rushbearing. Spa Sunday died out in the early 20th century and the rushbearing ceremony has not been held for many years. A modern event organised by the Haworth Traders' Association is
"Scroggling the Holly", which takes place in November.
Bands and
Morris dance lead a procession of children in Victorian costume following the Holly Queen up the
to a crowning ceremony on the church steps. She unlocks the church gates to invite the spirit of Christmas into Haworth.
Father Christmas arrives bringing glad tidings.
The first Haworth Arts Festival took place in 2000 and was repeated in 2001. It was revived in 2005 as a festival combining performing and visual arts and street performance.
Haworth Band is one of the oldest secular musical organisations in the Keighley area.[Internet Bandsman's Everything Within, "Archived Histories of Brass Bands", Haworth Band . Retrieved 17 February 2017.]
Every year the village hosts a 1940s weekend where locals and visitors don wartime attire for a host of nostalgic events.[ Haworth 1940s Weekend 2016, unknown 2016 date. Retrieved 17 February 2017.]
From 1971 to 1988, 25 and 27 Main Street housed the Haworth Pottery, where Anne Shaw produced hand-thrown domestic stoneware derived from the arts & crafts tradition. She exhibited widely in the UK and USA in public and private exhibitions and received an arts association award for her ceramic sculptures. Her husband, Robert Shaw, depicted life (and prominent residents) in the village in the 1970s and 80s, in two collections of satires, The Wrath Valley Anthology, 1981, and Grindley's Bairns, 1988, praised by The Times Literary Supplement.
Community facilities
On 13 January 2009, it was announced that a permanent
library would be established in the village, replacing the mobile service which visits the village once a week. Haworth last had its own library in 1978.
The library is yet to be established.
Central Park, a public park in the middle of the village, was opened in the 1920s. It is listed at Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
Landmarks
The Brontë Way leads past Lower Laithe Reservoir,
Stanbury, to the Brontë waterfalls, the Brontë Bridge and the Brontë Stone Chair, in which (it is said) the sisters took turns to sit and write their first stories. It then leads out of the valley and up on the moors to
Ponden Hall (reputedly
Thrushcross Grange in Emily Brontë's
Wuthering Heights) and
Top Withens, a desolate ruin which was reputedly the setting for the farmstead
Wuthering Heights. Top Withens can also be reached by a shorter walking route departing from the nearby village of Stanbury.
Transport
Haworth is served by Keighley Bus Company rural bus service which provides links to the main local town of
Keighley and the local villages of
Oxenhope,
Stanbury and
Oakworth. There is also a service to
Hebden Bridge. Evening and Sunday services are partly paid for by Metro. Overall there are approximately three buses every hour between Haworth and Keighley, with one per hour to each of Stanbury, Oakworth, and Oxenhope (continuing to Hebden Bridge).
Central North Street Car Park Haworth, formerly Changegate Car Park, has been subject of a Channel 4 television documentary "The Yorkshire Clamper", regarding their tactics.
Haworth is also served by Haworth railway station on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a preserved heritage railway.
Education
Haworth Primary School on Rawdon Road is the only school in the village and takes children from age 3 to 11.
Children from 12 to 18 attend secondary schools outside the village at
Beckfoot Oakbank in
Keighley and Parkside School in
Cullingworth.
Religious sites
St Michael and All Angels' Church is situated on Church Street, next to the parsonage. It is part of the Church of England Deanery of Craven.
Baptists in the area met in a barn at the bottom of Brow Road in 1785. They subsequently moved to Hall Green Baptist Church at the junction of Bridgehouse Lane and Sun Street.
Sport
Haworth Cricket Club was established in 1887 as Haworth Wesleyan Cricket Club and were members of the English Cricket Board.
They had a permanent ground north-west of the village centre, but the club was closed down in 2015.
Haworth West End Cricket Club was formed in 1900 as the Haworth West Lane Baptist Cricket Club.
On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France from York to Sheffield, passed through the village.
Notable people
The Brontë sisters were born in Thornton near
Bradford, but wrote most of their novels while living at Haworth Parsonage when their father was the
parson at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. In the 19th century, the village and surrounding settlements were largely industrialised, which put it at odds with the popular portrayal in
Wuthering Heights, which only bore resemblance to the upper moorland that Emily Brontë was accustomed to.
The Parsonage is now a museum owned and maintained by the Brontë Society.
Filmography
Haworth and Haworth railway station have been used as settings for numerous period films and TV series, including
The Railway Children (starring
Jenny Agutter),
Yanks (starring
Richard Gere and
Vanessa Redgrave), and
Alan Parker's film version of
Pink Floyd's
The Wall (starring
Bob Geldof). It also featured in
Rita, Sue and Bob Too with
George Costigan; "Wild Child" (starring
Emma Roberts), and "The Souk" (a high-class vintage shop) was depicted as a
charity shop.
In 2016 the BBC drama To Walk Invisible was shot in and around Haworth and included a full-scale replica of the Brontë Parsonage, Old School Rooms and Haworth Church at the time of the Brontës on nearby Penistone Hill.
Twinning
See also
-
Listed buildings in Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury
External links
