Patti Smith to perform at Parsonage

Press release from the Parsonage: 

                                

Singer- songwriter, poet and artist Patti Smith is to give a special benefit performance in Haworth in support of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, on Friday 19 April 2013.

Patti Smith is an admirer of the Brontë sisters and visited the Parsonage last year during a visit to the UK. Following her visit, Patti decided to return to Yorkshire to play a series of intimate concerts in Brontë country. Her performance in Haworth will raise profile and funds for the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and will take place as part of the Museum’s contemporary arts programme.

“We’re delighted that Patti Smith is supporting the Museum and will host this special performance in Haworth. It is yet another example of the ways in which the Brontës’ extraordinary legacy influences all aspects of contemporary culture. This will be a remarkable evening in a tiny venue very close to the Parsonage – we are expecting a huge response and I’m sure tickets will be snapped up very quickly indeed”. 

Jenna Holmes, Arts Officer at the Brontë Parsonage Museum

‘An evening of Words and Music with Patti Smith and Tony Shanahan’ will take place at the Old Schoolroom in Haworth (originally built by Patrick Brontë in 1832) at 8pm on Friday 19 April. Tickets are £25 and can be booked from the Brontë Parsonage Museum: jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188.

NB All tickets have been sold. Ring if you want to be put on the waiting list

Parsonage redecorated

Parsonage Press Release from Jenna Holmes:

January 2013 will see the first major redecoration scheme in 25 years for Haworth Parsonage, once home to the world’s most famous literary family, the Brontës, and now one of the UK’s top tourist attractions.

Using historical and scientific analysis produced by academics at the University of Lincoln, and referencing contemporary sources including watercolours and letters by the Brontës, the Parsonage will undergo a major interior visual transformation led by historic interior design consultant Allyson McDermott of the McDermott Studio, Forest of Dean. The house will be restored to looking much as it did during the main period of the Brontë family’s occupation in the 1830s and 40s but will also include features introduced by Charlotte as part of her facelift for the house during the early 1850s when she began to spend some of the income she had earned from her novels Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette in making the Parsonage more comfortable.

“This is one of the most exciting projects to take place at the Parsonage in many years and is the culmination of a two year research project. There have been attempts in the past to present the Parsonage as the Brontës’ home, but no serious archaeological work has ever been carried out before. The new rigorous historical research and scientific analysis resulting from this project has informed bespoke wallpapers, new curtains and painstakingly woven rugs. Objects from the Brontë Society collections will be displayed for the first time in this new context and familiar works will be reinterpreted. The rooms of the house are going to be transformed and may well surprise our visitors”. Quote from Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager, Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Quote from new Executive Director, Professor Ann Sumner: “I am delighted to be taking up my new role at this exciting time and see the re-decoration taking shape. We now know so much more about how the Parsonage was presented when the Brontë family lived here and are pleased to be working with Allyson McDermott, benefitting from her wealth of experience restoring historic interiors. The newly refurbished rooms will enormously enhance the visitor experience at the Parsonage Museum and have inspired a wealth of learning events and an exhibition in 2013”.

Quote from Sally McDonald, Chairman, The Brontë Society Council: “When the Trustees of the Brontë Society agreed this landmark re-decoration it set in motion a singular opportunity to learn more about the Brontës and their home. We are delighted that when the Parsonage reopens its door on February 9^th we will be sharing more of that wonderful story with our members and our visitors”.

The newly refurbished Parsonage will reopen on Saturday 9^th February featuring some exciting new displays.

The project has cost in the region of £60,000.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Contacts & Further Information:   

               

Ann Dinsdale (Collections Manager) 01535 640198 – a.dinsdale@bronte.org.uk

An Italian toast

On 29 December 2012 Professor Maddalena De Leo from Italy with BS members Caterina Lerro and Elisa Fierro met in Naples to mark and enjoy a very special day: the two hundredth anniversary of Maria and Patrick Brontë’s wedding. 

While celebrations of the event were taking place at midday at Haworth in the Brontë Parsonage Museum, at about the same hour the three Italian scholars raised a toast to the Brontë sisters’ parents. During the meeting Professor De Leo also read aloud some moving extracts from the novel about Maria’s life Removing the shroud of mystery originally written by her in Italian and recently published in English to mark the important event.

Tragic, Gifted, Precocious: Brontë Season in Leeds

Anne, Emily, Charlotte and Branwell in Two Art Exhibitions, a Conference and a Talk this January

'Visions of Angria' at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery is celebrating the world of the Brontës in the new year. However, the Gallery is not the only one to remember the four siblings from Haworth this season. Fans of the Brontës and Yorkshire's rich literary heritage have a lot to look forward to in January: two art exhibitions, a talk and a one-day conference are bringing the creativity of the Brontës into the limelight by presenting rare archival material and modern artistic responses in literature and popular culture.

'Visions of Angria' at The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery
7 January - 23 February 2013
The special display will present rarely seen manuscripts of Branwell Brontë from the University Library's Special Collections, alongside original illustrations. Providing Branwell's rich world of landscapes, characters and events with unique visualisations, Leeds College of Art students will bring these fantastic tales to life. This is a special opportunity to see the interplay between original manuscripts and their contemporary 're-visions'. 

The Gallery is open from Monday - Saturday, 10am-5pm and admission is free.

'Wildness Between the Lines', at Leeds College of Art
14 December 2012 - 2 February 2013 
The exhibition brings together the work of a wide range of artists who have been influenced by the Brontës. Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; these are just some of the works produced by the Brontës which have an enduring and universal appeal. The inspirational legacy of the Brontë family can be seen in a wide variety of contemporary creativity.
This exhibition is a unique opportunity to see, in one place, the work of a number of emerging and established artists, all of whom cite the Brontës as a source of continuing inspiration for their own creative practice.
The Gallery is open from Monday - Saturday, 10am - 4pm

'Re-Visioning the Brontës'
One day cross-disciplinary conference at the University of Leeds
The conference addresses ways in which the legacy of the Brontës is exerting an influence in a range of creative fields, and across a variety of media.

The conference programme is available at 
http://revisioningthebrontes.blogspot.co.uk

For further information, contact
bronte.revision@gmail.com

The conference is free and open to the public. It is now fully booked, please reserve a standby ticket if you wish to be notified in the event of cancellations:  http://bronterevision.eventbrite.co.uk

'A Secret History of the Brontës': Talk by Sarah Prescott, Literacy Archivist, University of Leeds 

Friday 18 January, 12.30 - 1.30 at the Central Library, Leeds 
Letters, stories and manuscripts written by the Bronte family, and now held in the University of Leeds Library Special Collections give a unique insight into their lives and work. Find out what these items tell us about the secret history of the family, and how they inform our understanding of their lives today - from Charlotte's honeymoon, to Branwell's complete disintegration.

Find us at:

The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery
Parkinson Building (pictured above)
Woodhouse Lane
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT 

Phone: 0113 34 32 778

http://library.leeds.ac.uk/art-gallery

Red House Celebration

Kirklees Brontë Group invites everyone to come and join them at Red House Museum - in the restored cart sheds - to celebrate Christmas and the two hundredth  anniversary of Patrick Brontë's  marriage. The date is Saturday 15 December from 1.15 - 3.15pm. Descendants of his sister Sarah have been invited, and mulled wine will be available. You will be able to view the seasonally decorated house, and there will be a Santa for the children.

Books and toys will be on sale to help raise funds to publish a book about former Red House residents and their visitors. These include the last family to reside at Red House before it became a museum - Lord Shaws.  Some Brontë family recipes will be included.  Money raised from the sale of the book will go to Holly Bank school (formerly Roe Head) in Mirfield, and Friends of Red House Museum in Gomersal. (From Imelda Marsden)
 
Red House Opening Hours:
From 1 October to 28 February new winter opening hours apply:
Tuesday to Thursday 11am to 4pm;
Saturday to Sunday 12noon to 4pm.
Monday and Friday: Museum closed.

Admission to Red House:
Adult: £2.50
Child: £1.00
Family: £6.00 (two adults and up to four children)
Kirklees Passport holders: 50% discount.

Annual ticket for Red House and Oakwell Hall
Adult: £6.00
Child: £2.50
Family: £14.50 (two adults and up to four children)
Kirklees Passport holders: 50% discount

Visiting groups should pre-book.  red.house@kirklees.gov.uk

The Planning Committee meeting

Chris Went, Heritage & Conservation Officer, writes: 

On Tuesday, 13 November Sally McDonald (Brontë Society Chair) and I met in Halifax to attend the committee meeting which would decide on the planning application to repower Ovenden Moor windfarm.

This repowering, unlike the proposal to erect a wind test mast on Thornton Moor, has not generated any concerted opposition.  There is no local group dedicated to stopping this development and although the group which opposes the Thornton Moor proposals was supportive, with individuals lodging objections with Calderdale Council, Ovenden is not their battleground.  Opposition from Calderdale residents was patchy and it was surprising that the local newspaper, the Halifax Courier, carried so few articles about the development.  At the committee meeting, therefore, Sally and I, as representatives of the Brontë Society, seemed to represent the largest single aspect of opposition – the impact on visual amenity – and as a result, Sally agreed to speak for all the objectors present, including the respresentative of Luddenden Civic Society.

After the Planning Officer had presented the application, Sally was allowed five minutes to speak for the objectors.  Although so little time was allowed, Sally put reiterated the objections of the Brontë Society, and stressed the High Court ruling of Mrs Justice Lang which said that energy requirements should not take priority over consideration for the landscape.  No questions were asked, and she was followed by the councillor for Illingworth and Mixenden who supported the application.  Emma Clark, the agent for Yorkshire Wind Power then spoke for the application.  Questions put to her by the panel of councillors allowed her more than the allotted five minutes to put her views.

Although the panel members were supposed to debate, this item on the agenda was nothing more than four of the panel expressing support for the application on the grounds – contrary to Mrs Justice Lang’s Hemsby ruling - that Calderdale’s need to meet its green targets was more important than what was considered to be a slight negative impact on the landscape.  Two councillors did not speak but at the vote, supported the application so that agreement was unanimous.

Naturally we are very disappointed with the outcome, but understand that the application may be called in by the government for review by the Planning Inspectorate.  If there is an opportunity to make a representation to the Secretary of State we shall do so.

Windfarm decision - our disappointment

News Release

Bronte Society expresses disappointment at Ovenden Moor windfarm decision

The Brontë Society wishes to express its disappointment with the decision by Calderdale Council to grant planning permission to Yorkshire Wind Power for the repowering of the windfarm at Ovenden Moor.

We feel that this decision demonstrates a lack of consideration for a unique heritage landscape which has internationally renowned cultural associations.  It shows, also, an insensitive disregard for the negative impact upon the environment and upon the local economy of Haworth and the area known as Brontë Country.

The Society has received a huge level of interest and support from all over the world.  We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and to give an assurance of our continued commitment to Haworth’s cultural and historical significance.

Ends

 13 November 2012

For further information please contact the Bronte Parsonage Museum on 01535 642323 / bronte@bronte.org.uk

Discovering the Brontës in Brussels

Helen MacEwan's book has finally been printed and the BS bookshop is now selling it. It’s advertised on the shop website under Miscellaneous books - click here to go to it.

Helen MacEwan writes:

A project I’ve been working on for some time, a book about the genesis and development of the Brussels Brontë Group (which started up in 2006) is finally completed; it has now been printed and copies are available. You can buy it in the English bookstores Waterstones and Sterling Books in Brussels, or from the Brontë Parsonage Museum shop. Click on the link above.

In the course of writing it I interviewed and spoke to many people in the group, and the book is about their discovery of the Brontës in Brussels as well as mine. So it’s something of a group project.

The book is called Down the Belliard Steps: Discovering the Brontës in Brussels

Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s stay in Brussels in 1842-43 to improve their French was to prove a momentous one for Charlotte in particular. She fell in love with her French teacher, Constantin Heger, and her experiences in the Belgian capital inspired two of her four novels, Villette and The Professor. Yet the Brontës’ Brussels episode remains the least-known of their lives.

When Helen MacEwan moved to Brussels in 2004 she discovered that not many people there seemed to know much about the Brontës’ time in the city. She herself had a lot to find out about their life in the Pensionnat Heger at the bottom of the Belliard steps. In the process of doing so she met other people who were similarly fascinated by the story, and with them formed the Brussels branch of the Brontë Society.

For all these people, following in Charlotte and Emily's tracks in modern-day Brussels, and setting up a literary group, was a voyage of discovery. In the course of telling their story, Helen finds some odd parallels between the Brussels of their day and ours, and reflects on why the Brontës' time there is so fascinating.

Photo of Helen MacEwan by Cassandre Sturbois.

ISBN No 978-0-9573772-0-2      Paperback        146 pp

Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights

Jenna Holmes writes:

Andrea Arnold’s 2011 film adaptation of Wuthering Heights will be screened in Haworth on Friday 23 November, 7.30pm, at the West Lane Baptist Centre. The gritty film is a minimalist take on Emily Brontë’s novel which strips away the traditional conventions of a period drama. Featuring a cast of unknown actors, and depicting a mixed race Heathcliff for the first time on screen, the film’s cinematography by Robbie Ryan foregrounds the wild, brooding Yorkshire landscape and the soundtrack is taken purely from nature. With a limited cinema release last year, this is another chance to see the film on the big screen if you missed it the first time around! 

The screening is a collaboration between the Parsonage and Haworth Cinema. The film has been programmed to coincide with the landscape exhibition Ways to the Stone House, currently on display at the Parsonage. Haworth Cinema successfully turns Haworth’s Baptist church into a cinema twice every month to show a programme of new releases.

The novel has been adapted for film and television many times, including the 1939 Hollywood version starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, and the 1997 version when Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche took on the title roles. Andrea Arnold took a very different approach to the book, filming in North Yorkshire using hand held cameras, and casting mainly non-professional actors, including unknown Leeds actor James Howson who took the lead role of Heathcliff, and was the first black actor to play the part on screen.

Tickets are £3 on the door; no need to book in advance.  Certificate 15.

 Watch the trailer

Read this blog review

Desecration of Brontë Bell Chapel

An organised gang of stone thieves is thought to be behind a robbery in Thornton near the historic Bell Chapel, which is connected with Brontë baptisms. About thirty yards  of heavy stone was ripped up - with a total monetary worth of just five hundred pounds. Three gravestones were included in the haul.

The gravestones are six feet by three feet each and six inches thick - which means that it would take four hefty men to lift each one.

“We’re shocked that the church has been desecrated. Some of the graves date back two hundred years. This has upset a lot of local people, it’s just awful,” Old Bell Chapel action group co-ordinator Steve Stanworth said.

Local people have put in twelve years of voluntary labour to restore the Brontë Bell Chapel, and feelings are running high. One stolen gravestone is dated 1790, and another was for John and Mary Pickles and five children, from the early nineteenth century. Another bears the names of Hannah and James Abbott and their 28-year-old daughter Mary. They died in 1828.

The police are appealing for information: the thefts took place between 9pm on Friday 19 October and 8am on Saturday 20 October. Anybody who knows anything about the incident should ring Crimestoppers - 0800 555 111                Click here to email this blog.

Link to BBC report is here.                          Photo: BBC


Read this story from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner about a gang of stone thieves, and this story from The Telegraph about metal thieves operating in Hornchurch, Essex.

In Search of the Brontës in Brussels

Laura Rocklyn writes from New York:

Every time I have read the passage at the beginning of The Professor in which William Crimsworth summons up his memories of Brussels saying, “Belgium!  I repeat the word now as I sit alone near midnight.  It stirs my world of the past like a summons to resurrection,” (Professor 41), I have wanted to visit Belgium and the spots that Charlotte Brontë knew while living there.  This spring I finally realized that dream when I was able to stop in Brussels during a trip around Belgium with my mother.

As I began planning for my day in Brussels, I was astounded by how little information is available about the Brontë sights in modern-day Brussels, but, through the magic of the internet, I found a little book entitled Brussels for Pleasure that details thirteen walks around the city and included one called “Charlotte Brontë and the royal quarter.”  Many of the sights that I had wanted to visit from The Professor, Villette and from the letters Charlotte wrote during her time in Brussels were included in the walk.

Excitement had me up early on my morning in Brussels and ready to set out to find all of the places I was looking for in the city. First on my list was the site of the Pensionnat Heger where Charlotte and Emily both studied, and where Charlotte spent time as a teacher.  I knew that the actual building had been demolished in 1909, but that the statue of General Belliard and the worn flight of steps described in Villette and in The Professor were still there to mark the spot.

After making good use of my rusty high school French to ask directions, we finally made our way as far as the Place Royale.  I felt an enormous rush of excitement when I saw the beautiful white buildings rising up before me -- “the magnificent street and square, with the grandest houses round” (Villette 55) that Lucy had hurried through in search of the inn that Graham had directed her to upon her arrival in Villette -- and I knew that I was close to the end of my search.  I followed the Rue Royale, with anticipation rising at every step, until the statue of General Belliard appeared on my left just as Graham had said it would in his directions to Lucy.  And there I, like William Crimsworth, “stood awhile to contemplate the statue of General Belliard and then I advanced to the top of the great staircase just beyond” (The Professor 45).  Sadly, the staircase is now covered with graffiti and the view at the bottom is of a disappointingly modern street, but it was still such a splendid feeling to be standing on that spot I had read about so many times!

Next, I crossed the street and went into the Parc de Bruxelles where Lucy ended up at the Assumption Day fete. We found the bandstand where she spotted Graham and Paulina, which Lucy describes as “ a Byzantine building – a sort of kiosk near the park’s center,” (Villette 425).  It was really thrilling for me to find this particular site because it was one of the spots I had been afraid would be too well-hidden for me to find in the somewhat overgrown and labyrinthine park with so little direction from the novel.

After exploring the park, I walked down the hill to the Cathedral of Saint Gudule where both Lucy in Villette and Charlotte in real life were moved to make confession.  I could not imagine the feelings of someone who was brought up in Haworth upon being confronted with the portentous grandeur of this cathedral.  On the cloudy day of my visit, I could easily see the aptness of the description in Villette, “It was an old solemn church, its pervading gloom not gilded but purpled by light shed through stained glass” (Villette 147).  In the side isles of the nave some of the beautiful antique carved Confessionals were still on display – three on each side of the nave.  A thrill at the thought of Charlotte’s experience in one of these Confessionals made me stop in my tracks and examine the ornate carvings of the Confessionals more closely.  I bought a small medallion of St. Gudule in the gift shop before we left as a reminder of the day and of the experience.

The next stop was Waterloo in honor of the victory won there by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and father of Arthur Adrian Wellesley, who young Charlotte Brontë turned into the Duke of Zamorna as the hero of her Angrian tales.  I began at the Wellington museum, which has been created at the inn where the Duke spent the night before the battle in 1815.  In the room where the Duke of Wellington had staid, a waxwork figured of him has been placed as if working at his desk, and it was a strange thrill on a Brontë-themed trip to see the portrait behind him labeled “Arthur Wellesley.”

Next I went out to the battlefield itself where I scaled the Lion Mount to view the surrounding fields.  It was difficult to imagine that such a horrible, bloody event had taken place on that peaceful, green farmland.  It was also remarkable to contemplate the number of works of literature that have taken inspiration form the events that took place at that field on June 18, 1815.  Many of my favorite novels, from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair to Tolstoy’s War and Peace to Hugo’s Les Miserables, have pivotal scenes set during and around the Battle of Waterloo.

The quick visits I was able to make to each of these spots only made me want to return and explore them with more leisure, and to see if I could not unearth other well-hidden Brontë sites in Brussels.  The beauty and interest of the sites made them all well worth the visit, and I would highly recommend such a trip to any other Brontë enthusiast!

Brief Bibliography:

Blyth, Derek. Brussels for Pleasure: Thirteen Walks Through the Historic City. (London: Pallas Athene, 2003).

Brontë, Charlotte, The Professor. (Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 1994).

Brontë, Charlotte, Villette. (Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 1994).

Richard Wilcocks adds: The Brussels Brontë Blog can be found here.

            

Threat to Haworth's Green Belt Land?

Chris Went writes:
Concerns have been raised that part of the grazing land at Weaver’s Hill may again be under threat of development.  The land, which is part of the green belt, abuts the lane to Oxenhope which, associated with Charlotte Brontë’s meetings with Arthur Bell Nicholls, is known locally as Charlotte’s Path. 

Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s planning department has flagged the land as being potentially available for new housing as part of the Local Development Framework, but because it is green belt, any such use would only be permitted when all other possible sites had been exhausted.  Furthermore, land allocations under the LDF are still far from being finalised.

Recent newspaper reports suggest that the owner of the grazing land, whose application for development in 2008 was withdrawn, will shortly submit a revised application for planning permission for 120 homes.  Should this be successful, he would then launch a second phase of development involving a further 200 houses.

The Brontë Society fully supports Haworth’s prevalent view that green belt land must remain green.  Large numbers of new houses in this part of the village would have an extremely detrimental effect on its setting and would bring inappropriate development disturbingly close to the moorland fringes.    The local economy is founded on heritage tourism.  Anything which may undermine that economy must be examined closely and, if necessary, strongly rejected.

Removing the shroud of mystery

Professor Maddalena De Leo’s Italian novel Mai più in oscurità is now available in English. Its title is Removing the shroud of mystery and can be easily found and bought on the site: www.lulu.com by typing the name of its author or the title of the book in the space on the right of the page.

The novel is about Maria Branwell’s life and marks the 200^th anniversary of the Brontë parents’ wedding (1812-2012).  Professor De Leo says in her Preface:

   

The early death of the Brontës’ mother and her birth in Cornwall, a land rich in myths and Celtic legends has always fascinated me. As a long time Brontë scholar, I recently visited Cornwall and Penzance, the towns where she was born and lived as a girl. Staying in this fabled land opened up to me a wealth of information, curiosities, doubts and speculations on a character still enshrouded in mystery.

My resources information and my own imagination enabled me to render a true portrait of Maria Branwell’s early life. Beginning with the first biographical episode dating from, I pieced together a biographical sketch starting from February 1850. This was when Charlotte Brontë was given by her father a small parcel of letters addressed to him by his future wife Maria during their engagement.I thought that maybe Charlotte Brontë conceived the ideas for her juvenile literature through this. In the diary Maria might have recorded the most significant episodes of her life so as to leave something of herself to posterity.

In the appendix I have included the unabridged text of the authentic letters by Maria Branwell not published since 1914 when they appeared in Clement Shorter’s book. Through this work I hope I put this precious jewel in its rightful place in the Brontë mosaic.

----------------------------------

Maddalena De Leo

Removing the shroud of mystery

www.lulu.com

pp.128

ISBN 978-1-291-05861-1

Theatre Review: ‘Brontë: A Portrait of Charlotte'

Laura Rocklyn writes from New York:

From the moment that the yearning music swelled to fill the space and the cloaked figure began her slow progression down the aisle towards the stage, the audience at the Off-Broadway Actors Temple Theatre was captivated.  The action of the play, Brontë: A Portrait of Charlotte, is set in June of 1849 as Charlotte returns home from her final trip to Scarborough with Anne.   Having just buried the last of her siblings, Charlotte is drawn to look back over her past life and share some reminiscences with the audience.

The text of play, by acclaimed playwright William Luce, is an elegant rendering of Charlotte Brontë based on her correspondence with school friend Ellen Nussey.  Although the play focused a little too heavily on Charlotte’s burgeoning relationship with Arthur Bell Nicholls, to the neglect of some other facets of her character that could have been explored, it did give a good overview of her life for audience members who may not have been familiar with the story behind the author of Jane Eyre.

Irish actress Maxine Linehan inhabited the role of Charlotte with compassion and grace.  The few points in the action when she would stop, put on her spectacles, sit down in a chair and simply begin a letter to 'Dear Nell' were some of the most poignant in the show.  All that was needed for Linehan to engage the audience was her sensitive presentation of Charlotte through the unadulterated words of her letters.

For further details on tickets: http://www.bronteoffbroadway.com/Bronte.html

The Actors Temple Theater is located at 339 West 47th Street.

Threat to Brontë Moors

 OVENDEN WIND FARM REPOWER THREATENS BRONTË MOORS

E.On, trading as Yorkshire Wind Power Ltd, have now submitted an application for planning permission to repower Ovenden Moor Wind Farm.  The 23 turbines currently in use and visible from parts of Haworth and the moorlands will, if the application succeeds, be replaced by nine structures 115m high.  At such a height they would, potentially, be visible from as far afield as Harrogate, Wetherby and Tadcaster, places over 35km distant.  Seen from Top Withens, they would appear enormous, and would dominate the whole landscape. 

In accordance with the Brontë Society’s heritage and conservation policy, an objection to the application has been submitted to Calderdale Council, the full text of which is given below.

Planning & Regeneration Services

Calderdale Council

Town Hall

Halifax

West Yorkshire

HX1 1UJ

16^th August 2012

 Dear Sirs,

re:  Planning application 12/00955/WDF

      Yorkshire Wind Power Ltd

       Repowering of wind farm including construction and operation of nine wind

       turbines (up to 115m to blade tip), construction of access tracks, crane

       hardstanding, temporary construction compound, underground cabling to

       network, new control building with substation and anemometer, to replace

       existing twenty three wind turbines, substation, control building and

       anemometer masts.

       Ovenden Moor Wind Farm Cold Edge Road Wainstalls Halifax Calderdale

The Brontë Society wishes to state its strong objection to the above proposal on the following grounds:-

1)     The damaging impact of the wind turbines on the character of the Worth Valley watershed, a culturally and historically unique landscape.

2)     The adverse effect on tourism and the local economy.

The Worth Valley watershed includes those stretches of moorland and specific locations which are associated with the Brontë family and most particularly with the writings of Emily Brontë.  They are culturally and historically unique and they form an internationally recognised part of England’s heritage.  They also include sections of The Brontë Way and The Pennine Way.  The turbines currently in operation at Ovenden Moor are visible from many parts of the watershed and their visual impact is unfortunate and inappropriate.  However, the current proposal would introduce to the skyline man-made structures of such increased size that they could, potentially, be seen from as far away as Harrogate and Tadcaster.  Seen from all areas of the watershed moorlands they would appear as overwhelming features in the landscape and would diminish the perception of its scale and remoteness.  In an empty landscape even small turbines have a dominating effect and the movement of the blades draws the eye, making them impossible to ignore.  The far greater size of the proposed turbines would have a defining and hugely detrimental influence upon the character of the landscape and its setting.  The validity of this objection takes into account the judgement made by Mrs Justice Lang in May, 2012 in a case brought by SLP Energy regarding Hemsby, Norfork.  The judgement states that “concern about harm to the landscape was on balance more important that the national need for renewable energy”.

The area known as Brontë Country, which includes Haworth and its associated moorlands, was formerly a region whose economy was based mainly upon small-scale agriculture and textiles.  Since the demise of the textile industry the area has become increasingly reliant on the tourism generated by its literary and heritage associations.  The Brontës and their works have, over the last 160 years, inspired worldwide interest which has, more recently, been fuelled by film and television adaptations of their lives and their novels.  This interest has resulted in a flow of visitors to Haworth not merely from Britain but from all parts of the world.   They come to see for themselves something of the village and the countryside in which the Brontës lived and which influenced their work.  They come to see open, empty moorlands unaffected by dominant structures.  Any development which affects the foundations of this literary tourism inevitably affects the local economy.

 The current, inappropriate presence of wind turbines is known to have an adverse effect upon the visitor experience.  A letter to the Daily Telegraph in May 2012, stated “Sadly, anyone who now goes on the Brontë tourist trail will be greeted by wind turbines.  Brontë Country is no longer worth visiting.” (S. Mowbray)  The far greater impact of the current proposal has the potential to cause a decline in visitor numbers leading to decreased incomes from businesses which rely on this tourism and, indeed, the failure of businesses.  Claims that the repowering of Ovenden Moor wind farm will provide local jobs are unfounded as once the construction (by specialist teams) is complete, turbines are remotely monitored, and maintained by very few individuals.  Any jobs created would be minimal and mainly temporary.  The positive impact on the local economy would be negligible and of very little importance compared with the negative effect the proposal would have upon the tourist industry.

The Brontë Society submits that the pre-existence of turbines at Ovenden Moor should have no bearing on the decision of the Planning Committee in respect of the current proposal, and reiterates that, because of its scale and location, the repowering would result in material harm to the character and appearance of the Worth Valley watershed and to the local economy, such harm far outweighing any supposed benefits.

 As a charity it is not appropriate for us to mount a petition nor, in this case, would that be helpful as no matter how many signatures are collected, it would count only as a single objection.  We would ask that, if you wish to support the Society in this, you send your comments to Calderdale Council by post, email or online as follows, in all cases quoting planning application 12/00955/WDF.  The consultation period, during which comments will be accepted, ends on 7^th September.

By post:

Planning & Regeneration Services

Calderdale Council

Town Hall

Halifax

West Yorkshire

HX1 1UJ

By email:

town.planning@calderdale.gov.uk

Online:

http://portal.calderdale.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=M8654ODW0DW00

In order to comment online you must register and log in first.  Please ignore any notice on the website to the effect that comments are not being accepted at this time.  Calderdale Council have given an assurance that this is not the case.

Call for Papers

29 JANUARY 2013 - Call for papers: ‘Re-Visioning the Brontës’, University of Leeds conference in conjunction with the exhibitions, ‘Wildness Between the Lines’ and ‘Visions of Angria’

Recent adaptations and interpretations of the Brontës’ lives and works through film, art, literature and theatre raise questions about the continuing fascination with these literary figures, as well as highlighting the wider potential for artistic intervention or collaboration between artworks and audiences. Similarly, it is through innovative contemporary arts programmes that organisations like the Brontë Parsonage Museum and the Brontë Society seek to move beyond simple ‘caricatures’ of the family and encourage diverse audience engagement.

This one day cross-disciplinary conference will explore the recent ‘re-visioning’ of the Brontës through critically examining artistic responses and interpretations of their work. The conference will address ways in which the legacy of the Brontës is exerting an influence in a range of creative fields, and across a variety of media.

A collaboration between the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery and the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, the conference is taking place to coincide with two exhibitions. The first, ‘Wildness Between the Lines’, at Leeds College of Art, brings together the work of a wide range of artists who have been influenced by the Brontës. ‘Visions of Angria’, at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, showcases Brontë material from the University of Leeds Special Collections, accompanied by illustrations from students at Leeds College of Art.

This theme lends itself to a broad field of research and practice. Submissions are welcomed from academics, artists, research students and professionals, and the format is not restricted to formal papers. Topics for discussion might include, but are not limited to:

The Brontës’ influence in contemporary culture

Creative adaptations or reinterpretations of the Brontës’ lives and works

Curatorial interpretations of the Brontës

The myth and legacy of the Brontës

Responses to exhibitions of Brontë material

Representations of the Brontës in literary biographies

Confirmed speakers include Jane Sellars (Curator of Art, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate) and Professor Blake Morrison (Goldsmiths, University of London) in conversation with Dr Richard Brown (University of Leeds). Please email submissions, including a title, 400 word abstract and CV, to: bronte.revision@gmail.com by no later than Friday, 28 September 2012. Successful applicants will be notified by the 30 November 2012. Further questions are welcomed at this address.

Image: The life of Feild [sic] Marshal the Right Honourable Alexan[d]er Percy, autograph manuscript, 1835 by Patrick Branwell Brontë, University of Leeds Library Special Collections.