WHILE tourists from around the world flock to Haworth’s Bronte Parsonage Museum, a miniature replica of the family’s famous home is attracting visitors of the wildlife variety.
Bats, bugs and beasts are all welcome at a Bronte-themed community garden in Thornton - birthplace of the Bronte siblings - where mini literary landmarks have been installed. The ‘Prickly Parsonage’ hedgehog home, Bronte Bat Box and Bronte Bug Chapel are a novel way of making wildlife feel at home in the village.
The hedgehog and bug homes are at South Square arts centre in a community garden which was launched on Thursday - Charlotte Bronte’s birthday. Local schoolchildren were invited to help fill the Bronte Bug Chapel with bug-friendly bricks, bamboo sticks and leaves, and the youngsters learned how to protect wildlife from Hedgehog Emergency Rescue, Bingley Yorkshire (HERBY).
“HERBY came to give a talk on the importance of creating hedgehog friendly outdoor spaces,” says Programme Manager Alice Withers. “We were surprised to find out that hedgehog numbers in Britain had dropped so significantly, but there are some easy things you can do to make your outdoor space welcoming for them - including putting in a hedgehog door, as we have on our ‘Prickly Parsonage’.
“Hedgehogs are nocturnal so not usually out in the daytime. Ruby, the hedgehog in these photos, was able to ‘open’ the Prickly Parsonage as she is eight (80 in hedgehog years) and has cataracts so to her the day and the nighttime aren’t very different.”
The Bronte Bug Chapel, a place for bees and other insects, reflects the remains of Thornton’s historic Bell Chapel, where Patrick Bronte was the curate before moving his family to Haworth. Now a protected landmark, the Bell Chapel is looked after by volunteers.
A short walk from South Square is the Bronte Bat Box, designed as a miniature replica of the house in Thornton where Emily, Anne, Charlotte and Branwell Bronte were born. The bat box, which sits on the side of the Market Street building, is home to three pipistrelle bats named Charlotte, Emily and Anne, which were discovered during a £1m refurbishment of the South Square centre.
“It all started when we had our roof replaced in 2020, following capital funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund,” says Alice. “The centre worked with Brooks Ecological who found that we had three pipistrelle bats roosting in our roof. To ensure their survival and safety we had to provide them with a home whilst we were renovating our roof.”
A bat box is an artificial roost designed to encourage bats into areas with few roosting sites. Heritage Assistant Chloe Moreton set to work designing the unusual bat home and as scaffolding on the arts centre roof was taken down, the Brontë Bat Box was installed.
Patrick and Marie Bronte moved to the Market Street property in Thornton in 1815 with their daughters Marie and Elizabeth, who were born at the family’s previous home in Hartshead. Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born in 1816, 1817, 1818 and 1820. The family moved to the parsonage in Haworth in 1820.
Since then the Market Street house has had several changes of use, including a butcher’s shop and a restaurant. In the late 1990s it was bought and restored by novelist Barbara Whitehead who, with the support of the Bronte Birthplace Trust, ran it as a museum.
It later became a bistro, Emily’s, and last year a blue plaque, from Bradford Civic Society, was unveiled at the building, marking it as the birthplace of the Brontes.
Thornton is also home to two landmark Bronte memorials - part of the Bronte Stones project, celebrating the literary sisters’ legacy in landscapes that inspired their work. Commissioned by Bradford Literature Festival, and installed in 2018, the stones are carved with original writing by Kate Bush, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, bestselling novelist Jeanette Winterson and Scottish poet Jackie Kay. The Bronte Stone, in Thornton Cemetery, overlooks the viaduct and moors, and Charlotte’s stone is set into the wall of the Bronte birthplace.
A series of walks from Thornton to Haworth links the four stones - Emily’s stone is at Ogden Kirk and Anne’s stone overlooks the Parsonage - following the sisters’ footsteps.
Says centre director Florence Hey. “The Bronte sisters were inspired by the local wildlife and landscapes, this is reflected in their poetry. We hope they’d be proud of the habitat we’ve created in our garden, which can be used as a tool to teach children and families about how to protect and support our local ecology.”
Based in a cluster of 19th Century Grade II listed workers’ cottages, South Square was renovated as a community arts and heritage centre in 1982. Today the centre is home to 10 studios for artists, an art gallery, community spaces, archive, fine art framers, a bar and cafe.
South Square Gallery plays a significant part in the cultural life of Thornton; providing community exhibitions, events and workshops alongside a contemporary arts programme and providing a platform and opportunities for new artists and curators.
In March 2020 South Square Centre received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to undertake a capital refurbishment and a three-year programme of heritage activities highlighting local industrial heritage, Thornton as the birthplace of the Brontes and South Square’s own history as a grassroots cultural arts centre.
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