Village in West Yorkshire, England
Human settlement in England
Haworth
(
HOW
-?rth
,
[3]
HAW
-?rth
,
[4]
HAW
-w?rth
[4]
) is a village in
West Yorkshire
, England.
[5]
[6]
Located in the
Pennines
, Haworth is 3 miles (5 km) south-west of
Keighley
, 8 miles (13 km) north of
Halifax
, 10 miles (16 km) west of
Bradford
and 10 miles (16 km) east of
Colne
in
Lancashire
. The surrounding areas include
Oakworth
and
Oxenhope
. Nearby villages include
Cross Roads
,
Stanbury
and
Lumbfoot
.
Haworth is a tourist destination known for its association with the
Bronte sisters
and the preserved heritage
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
.
History
[
edit
]
Haworth is first mentioned as a settlement in 1209.
[7]
The name may refer to a "hedged enclosure" or "hawthorn enclosure".
[8]
The name was recorded as "Howorth" on a 1771 map.
In 1850, local parish priest
Patrick Bronte
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 Bronte
, dying by the age of 31.
[9]
Babbage's inspection uncovered deeply unsanitary conditions, including there being no sewers, excrement flowing down Haworth's streets, waste from slaughterhouses and pigsties being held for months in fenced-in areas, overcrowded and poorly-ventilated housing, and a poorly-oxygenated and overcrowded graveyard that filtered into the village's water supply. These conditions contributed to an average life expectancy of 25.8 years and 41.6% of the village's residents dying before the age of 6. This report was presented to the
General Board of Health
and prompted work to improve conditions in the village.
[10]
Governance
[
edit
]
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
,
[11]
which is part of the
Bradford metropolitan district
in
West Yorkshire
.
[12]
Haworth was a
township
and
chapelry
in the parish of Bradford,
[13]
and from 1866 it was a civil parish that was abolished on 1 April 1938.
[14]
Haworth became an
urban district
in 1894, on 1 April 1938 the district was abolished and merged with the
Municipal Borough of Keighley
which it was part of until 1974.
[15]
In 1931 the parish had a population of 5911.
[16]
Geography
[
edit
]
Haworth is in the
Worth Valley
amid the
Pennines
.
[17]
It is 212 miles (341 km) north of London, 43 miles (69 km) west of York and 9 miles (14 km) west of Bradford.
Economy
[
edit
]
Tourism accounts for much of the local economy, with the major attractions being the
heritage railway
and
Bronte Parsonage Museum
.
[18]
In Haworth, there are tea rooms, souvenir and antiquarian bookshops, restaurants, pubs and hotels, including the Black Bull, where Branwell Bronte's decline into alcoholism and opium addiction allegedly began.
[19]
[20]
Haworth is a base for exploring
Bronte Country
, while still being close to the major cities of
Bradford
and
Leeds
.
On 22 November 2002, Haworth was granted
Fairtrade Village
status.
[21]
On 21 October 2005, Haworth Fairtrade officially signed an agreement to twin with
Machu Picchu
in
Peru
.
[22]
Culture
[
edit
]
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.
[23]
Bands and
Morris men
lead a procession of children in
Victorian costume
following the Holly Queen up the
cobblestones
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.
[24]
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.
[25]
The festival has community involvement and uses local professional and semi-professional musicians, artists and performers and a larger name to headline each year. It has provided a stage for
John Cooper Clarke
and
John Shuttleworth
. The festival has expanded across the Worth Valley outside Haworth and is held on the first weekend in September.
Haworth Band is one of the oldest secular musical organisations in the
Keighley
area.
[26]
Historic records indicate that there was a brass band at nearby Ponden in 1854 with a body of excellent performers. It was founded by John Heaton, who lived at Ponden. The band played at a celebration in Haworth at the conclusion of the
Crimean War
. "Over the years the world of
brass band
music went from strength to strength, during which time the Haworth Band went with it."
[27]
Every year the village hosts a 1940s weekend where locals and visitors don
wartime
attire for a host of nostalgic events.
[28]
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
.
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.
[29]
The library is yet to be established.
[
when?
]
Landmarks
[
edit
]
Haworth railway station
is part of the
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
, an authentic, preserved steam railway.
The 43-mile-long (69-kilometre)
Bronte Way
leads past
Lower Laithe Reservoir
,
Stanbury
, to the
Bronte waterfalls
, the Bronte Bridge and the Bronte 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 Bronte
'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
[
edit
]
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.
[30]
[31]
Education
[
edit
]
Haworth Primary School on Rawdon Road is the only school in the village and takes children from age 3 to 11.
[32]
Children from 12 to 18 attend secondary schools outside the village at
Beckfoot Oakbank
in
Keighley
and
Parkside School
in
Cullingworth
.
[33]
Religious sites
[
edit
]
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.
[34]
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.
[35]
Sport
[
edit
]
Haworth Cricket Club was established in 1887 as Haworth Wesleyan Cricket Club and were members of the
English Cricket Board
.
[36]
They had a permanent ground north-west of the village centre, but the club was closed down in 2015.
[37]
Haworth West End Cricket Club was formed in 1900 as the Haworth West Lane Baptist Cricket Club.
[38]
On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014
Tour de France
from York to Sheffield, passed through the village.
[39]
Notable people
[
edit
]
The
Bronte 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 Bronte
was accustomed to.
[40]
The Parsonage is now a museum owned and maintained by the Bronte Society.
Filmography
[
edit
]
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
Bronte Parsonage
, Old School Rooms and
Haworth Church
at the time of the Brontes on nearby
Penistone Hill
.
Twinning
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury (Parish, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location"
.
- ^
UK Census
(2021).
"2021 Census Area Profile ? Haworth Built-up area (1119884265)"
.
Nomis
.
Office for National Statistics
. Retrieved
27 March
2018
.
- ^
"Haworth"
.
Collins English Dictionary
.
HarperCollins
. Retrieved
27 July
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Jones, Daniel
(2011).
Roach, Peter
;
Setter, Jane
;
Esling, John
(eds.). "Haworth".
Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary
(18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 227.
ISBN
978-0-521-15255-6
.
- ^
"Haworth - Bradford | Welcome to Yorkshire"
.
www.yorkshire.com
. Retrieved
14 May
2019
.
- ^
"Discover Haworth and Bronte Country"
.
www.visitbradford.com
. Retrieved
14 May
2019
.
- ^
"Haworth Village ? Visiting Haworth ? England"
. Archived from
the original
on 16 May 2011
. Retrieved
10 August
2010
.
- ^
Ekwall, Eilert (1960).
The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names
(4 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 227.
ISBN
0-19-869103-3
.
- ^
Temple, Emily (14 May 2021).
"Apparently the Brontes all died so early because they spent their lives drinking graveyard water"
.
Literary Hub
. Retrieved
18 December
2022
.
- ^
"Sanitary report on Haworth, home to the Brontes"
.
British Library
. Retrieved
18 December
2022
.
- ^
"City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council ? Parish and town councils"
. Archived from
the original
on 18 December 2010
. Retrieved
5 August
2010
.
- ^
Chrystal, Paul (2017).
The Place Names of Yorkshire
(1 ed.). Catrine: Stenlake. p. 100.
ISBN
9781840337532
.
- ^
"History of Haworth, in Bradford and West Riding"
.
A Vision of Britain through Time
. Retrieved
11 August
2023
.
- ^
"Relationships and changes Haworth Ch/CP through time"
. A Vision of Britain through Time
. Retrieved
11 August
2023
.
- ^
"Relationships and changes Haworth UD through time"
. A Vision of Britain through Time
. Retrieved
11 August
2023
.
- ^
"Population statistics Haworth Ch/CP through time"
. A Vision of Britain through Time
. Retrieved
11 August
2023
.
- ^
"Haworth Conservation Area Assessment"
(PDF)
.
bradford.gov.uk
. April 2003. p. 5
. Retrieved
27 March
2018
.
- ^
Winn, Christopher (2010).
I never knew that about Yorkshire
. London: Ebury. pp. 121?123.
ISBN
978-0-09-193313-5
.
- ^
Dewhirst, Ian (18 April 2013).
"The Black Bull in Haworth just after the Brontes"
.
Keighley News
. Retrieved
27 March
2018
.
- ^
Jordison, Sam (10 June 2009).
"The Brontes are alive and unwell in Haworth"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
27 March
2018
.
- ^
"Fair traders win award"
.
Telegraph & Argus
. Archived from
the original
on 11 February 2009
. Retrieved
24 September
2007
.
- ^
a
b
"Andes show boosts International link"
.
Telegraph & Argus
. Archived from
the original
on 11 February 2009
. Retrieved
24 September
2007
.
- ^
"Scroggling the Holly"
.
bronte-country.com
. Retrieved
13 March
2017
.
- ^
Knights, David (6 December 2013).
"Haworth's 'scroggling the holly' is biggest for many years"
.
Keighley News
. Retrieved
27 March
2018
.
- ^
"Haworth Arts Festival"
. Archived from
the original
on 22 January 2013
. Retrieved
6 July
2012
.
- ^
"The Haworth Band ? History"
. Archived from
the original
on 10 March 2012
. Retrieved
5 August
2010
.
- ^
Internet Bandsman's Everything Within, "Archived Histories of Brass Bands",
Haworth Band
. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
- ^
Haworth 1940s Weekend
2016, unknown 2016 date. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
- ^
Evans, Fiona (13 January 2009).
"Library hope for literary village"
.
Yorkshire Post
. Retrieved
7 February
2009
.
- ^
Wollaston, Sam (4 September 2009).
"Last night's TV: The Yorkshire Clamper"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
30 November
2016
.
- ^
"Clamping firm "worst in UK"
"
.
BBC News
. 26 November 2003
. Retrieved
2 July
2017
.
- ^
"Ofsted ? Haworth primary school"
. Archived from
the original
on 17 January 2010
. Retrieved
9 August
2010
.
- ^
"Haworth Village Local Information ? Secondary schools"
. Archived from
the original
on 13 June 2011
. Retrieved
21 August
2010
.
- ^
"St Michael & All Angels, Haworth"
. Retrieved
5 August
2010
.
- ^
"Hall Green Baptist Church ? History"
. Archived from
the original
on 9 February 2011
. Retrieved
5 August
2010
.
- ^
"Haworth Cricket Club"
. Retrieved
14 August
2010
.
- ^
Nutting, Asher (24 July 2017).
"Haworth West End: No cricket club but a thriving ground"
.
Cricket Yorkshire
. Retrieved
15 June
2019
.
- ^
"Haworth West End Cricket Club ? History"
. Retrieved
14 August
2010
.
- ^
"Tour de France Stage 1"
. Archived from
the original
on 25 July 2014
. Retrieved
15 July
2014
.
- ^
Fraser, Rebecca (1993).
"The Brontes"
. In Marsh, Kate (ed.).
Writers and Their Homes
. Hamish Hamilton. p.
41
.
ISBN
0-241-12769-6
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for
Haworth
.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Haworth
.
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