Thank you so much for your interest in the Brontë birthplace campaign. Without the goodwill and efforts of people like yourself our dreams to save the humble house in Thornton where the three sisters were born would never have come to fruition. Can we just tell you a little about why it is so important to us as a campaign group and to the wider community.
The Brontë sisters were born in Thornton more than 200 years ago when their father arrived with his wife Maria and their two youngest daughters to take up the position of local vicar. There the family flourished with Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne being born in front of the fireplace in the parlour.
They were a happy band, full of hope and ambition before they left for Haworth. Indeed Patrick himself described his time in Thornton as his ‘happiest days’. Yet the little terraced house where the most important writers of their day came into the world has stood empty and unloved for several years.
The Brontë birthplace campaign will change that. With the boost of substantial grants from Bradford City of Culture 2025 and The UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund, under the levelling up agenda, as well as our successful community share offer, we have raised enough money to buy and restore the house and open it as a community and educational space where young people in particular can seek inspiration from three Bradford girls of humble background who succeeded against all odds and refused to give up on their dreams. The subjects they wrote about resonate as strongly today as they did then. The sisters used their novels to write about social injustice and discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, poverty and background.
Under the banner BeMoreBrontë in 2025 when Bradford celebrates becoming the UK’s City of Culture school children in the city will be invited to take part in our education programme when they can visit the birthplace, enter into age-appropriate learning and be inspired by the three sisters who were told they couldn’t, yet did. The legacy of three Bradford girls who went on to become the most famous feminist writers of their day will then live on.
We also plan to open a cafe which will become a hub of arts and creativity for visitors from the community and beyond. And those who love the Brontë sisters will have the unique opportunity to actually stay in one of the girl’s bedrooms and literally walk in the footsteps of greatness.