ISM writes
We must protect the
views the Brontës loved was the headline to an article which appeared in last
Saturday’s (21 January) Telegraph Weekend. Well of course anyone who knows the area which
gave such inspiration to that literary family would agree wholeheartedly. Apparently
not Bradford Council which is including Haworth and its neighbouring Worth
Valley villages in the plans to see 48,500 houses built within its boundaries
by 2028.
Andrew McCarthy, director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum is quoted in the article as saying that
the Brontës themselves lived on the dividing line between industry and untamed
moorland and that the walk to enter another world is not very far.
The fear is
that this world will disappear in stages. The Reverend Peter Mayo-Smith, vicar
of the village’s St Michael and All Angels church, which has been the
victim of criminals and vandals who have stripped lead from the roof three
times in the last eighteen months, says he finds solace in walks on the moor. Even
when the wind is strong and the rain lashing he describes these lonely expanses
as wonderful.
Charlotte Brontë,
after her sister’s death, wrote how Emily too loved the moors and found in the
bleak solitude many and dear delights and not the least and best loved was
liberty.
Just as the Brontës
were always drawn back to the area for inspiration, those of us who follow in
their footsteps hope that if there has to be future development it will be done
sensibly and with respect.
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