Harlaxton 2016: Brontë Country and the Moors

By:  Katie Ashley

Wow. The only word I have to describe our field trip to the Moors is wow. We started the day with an early departure time of eight o’clock from Harlaxton Manor. We took a coach bus to Keighley (about two and a half hours from Grantham), and then hopped on a steam engine train for a short ride into Haworth. When we arrived in Haworth we took a short uphill walk to Haworth Parish Church. This was the Brontë family’s home church, and is now the resting place of the parents and five of their six children including Emily and Charlotte. We then went to the Brontë Parsonage which is adjacent to the Church. When we arrived at the Parsonage we split into two groups. One group went to the cellar and listened to a presentation by the education coordinator about the Brontë family. While the first group listened to the talk, the other group went into the parsonage and took a tour of the home. After forty-five minutes the groups switched places.

After our time at the Parsonage, we made our way to the Moors. The Moors are said to be where Emily Brontë found some of her inspiration for Wuthering Heights, a novel we studied in class. We hiked two and a half miles to Brontë Falls. I found it to be more like a stream than anything else, but it was pretty nonetheless. We took a thirty minute break at the falls, and then had a choice to either turn back to the village with Dr. Rutledge or continue on an uphill hike to ruins of a house to see what was said to be Emily’s inspiration for Wuthering Heights, a manor in the novel. Everyone decided to continue on, so we embarked on our journey up the moor. We took another thirty minute break when we arrived at the ruins, and then continued onto what Derick calls “The Enchanted Forest.” This is a cluster of trees situated on top of a moor. When you walk into the trees, all daylight appears to cease. It was rather enchanting.

From here we began our trek back to the coach bus. When we all reached the coach bus, we began our drive back to the manor stopping for an hour in Halifax for dinner. We returned to the manor around 9:30, and most of us retired to our rooms exhausted from our long, chilly day in Brontë country. This day has been my favorite of the trip so far, and I wish we could return to the Moors tomorrow for another hike!