Strenuous Leader: Martin Distance: 9 miles
We make our way towards and through Haworth church yard, up to Penistone Hill. We then pick up the Bronte way (gravel path) to the Bronte falls. We then come back along millennium way, through heather and down onto country roads with views of the valley.
We drop down to ‘Three Chimneys’ house (of Railway Children film fame) crossing the railway line near Oxenhope Station. We proceed alongside the river, on uneven paths. We pass through Haworth and on towards Oakworth and its Station. From here we head back to Haworth’s Central Park and Main Street.
There are a number of steps to negotiate along the route, plus uneven terrain.
Moderate Leader: Laura Distance: 7 miles
Total ascent 821 feet.
Please note that everyday trainers and leisure footwear are not suitable on this walk.
We make our way along flagged footpath to the country road at the base of Penistone Hill. We join Bronte Way to the Bronte Waterfalls. On leaving the Waterfalls we have a short steady incline to each a higher level and proceed to our highest point near Top Withins on Stanbury Moor.
We commence our return, downwards over the moorland on the other side of the valley towards Stanbury Village, over a causeway at the reservoir. On leaving the reservoir on the bridleway, we have some tree cover and a brief steady upward incline. We then start our downward approach into Haworth.
Terrain-good, well-marked tracks, some flag stones on paths, with some larger limestones in paths on the approach to the Waterfalls, where you can choose from more than one track, so some care needed and this is probably the only point at which walking poles would be useful, if you have them.
No stiles, two small patches of mud where small streams cross the pathway.
Livestock – expect to walk through sheep. Some dogs walked by tourists.
Easy Leader: Peter Distance: 4 miles
We will make our way to the loos from the coach and start our walk from there this morning. We will set off to find the Bronte Way heading to Sowdens Farm we will continue towards Old Oxenhope Farm and Marsh Lane. We will turn left then right to pick up the Railway Children’s Walk and then cross over the lines to turn right to the railway museum where we will lunch.
We will head back to Haworth on the Railway Children’s Walk and head back to the coach.
This is an easy walk but more of a stroll and therefore not suitable for the more energetic amongst you.
NOTES ON THE AREA
Haworth, and the moors beyond, will always be associated with the Brontes, a uniquely-gifted family growing up in the emotionally repressed conditions of Victorian times. Most people remember the names of Anne, Charlotte and Emily for their literary endeavours, but there were three more children in the family, girls Maria and Elizabeth, both of whom died in childhood, and the only boy, Branwell, who squandered his many talents.
The children were born in Thornton, Yorkshire, to Patrick Bronte, an Irish clergyman and his Cornish wife Maria. They had their six children quickly but sadly Mrs Bronte died of breast cancer in 1821, not long after Anne was born, and a year after they moved to Haworth. Life was a bit tragic for Patrick because all his children died well before him, yet he himself went on to live until he was about eighty. After Maria died the children were looked after by an austere aunt, and their only escape lay in writing and in the exploration of the countryside around their home.
Charlotte was the only one who eventually married but tragically she died not long after suffering from the same severe pregnancy sickness complaint which causes dehydration, that severely affected the Duchess of Cambridge too. No intravenous drips in those days.
The old part of Haworth has a steep and cobbled Main Street, leading down from the church, with alleys and courts branching off it, but the village expanded in Victorian times, stretching down the hillside towards the river and railway. Once Haworth was not the pretty place it is now, instead the main road was an open sewer and disease was rife and mortality high. The four and a mile Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is one of the finest restored steam railways in the country and runs regular daily steam services in the summer, and weekends trips during the winter months. The railway was originally opened in 1867, not only to carry passengers but also to bring raw materials to the mills in the valley.
The desolate moors which so inspired the Bronte sisters, rise majestically above the steep sided Bronte Falls, which tumble into Salden Beck, and was a favorite spot of the Bronte sisters A few yards down the stream is the Bronte seat which is hewn out of a single piece of rock. And high up on the moors is Top Withins, the ruin of a lonely farmhouse which is said to have been the inspiration for the famous novel, Wuthering Heights, written by Emily.
Penistone Hill appears in Wuthering Heights as Penistone Crag, a local beauty spot near Thrushcross Grange. The quarry here provided stone for the paving blocks in the High Street, and for the dark buildings of Haworth. Looking at the now disused gritstone quarries on the edge of the moor it is hard to imagine that as late as the 1920’s a hundred men hewed stone here. Penistone Hill is now an180 acre Country Park, and from the summit there is a spectacular view across the bleak open Pennines. The vicarage is now the Bronte Museum.