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Every year tourists from all over the world flock to Haworth to visit the home of the Bronte sisters. Far fewer people take the trip to nearby Thornton to see where it all began yet the village is just as proud of its Bronte associations. Just as in Haworth the family name has been adopted by one or two local businesses, the Bronte Way passes through Thornton and the 'Bronte Birthplace' is well signed. There's even a multi-directional sign in the middle of the village which also points to 'the place they moved to later' as well as Egypt, Moscow...and Coffin Row!ΜύΜύ

At first glance Number 74 Market Street is a very ordinary cottage but it's very difficult to miss the plaque pointing out that this really is the birthplace of Charlotte, (Patrick) Branwell, Emily Jane and Anne Bronte.

The way to Haworth and success!

For a number of years the house has been owned by novelist Barbara Whitehead who has not only restored many of the house's original features but has been more than happy to open it to the public by arrangement. Now Barbara is retiring and has to sell the house. The Grade II listed building will be auctioned at Elland Road football stadium, the home of Leeds United, on Monday June 25th, 2007.

The property has four bedrooms and three staircases! A stone above the front door suggests the house was built in 1802. When Patrick Bronte moved here as Curate to St James' Church, Thornton, in 1815, he was accompanied by his wife Maria and their two little girls. While Maria and Elizabeth were not to survive into adulthood the Bronte children born here grew up to take the literary world by storm.

Although it was the church that brought the family to Thornton, Patrick would not have been familiar with the present St James Church which was not built until the 1870s. The ruined and overgrown remains of the chapel in which he preached - now known as the Bronte Bell Chapel - can still be found in the graveyard opposite the present church.

Barbara Whitehead says on her website: "People sometimes wonder why the birthplaces of famous people are so important. Charlotte, Emily and Anne were small children here; it was not the place where they wrote their books. But the first years of life are very formative and this was a family home with their mother and their two elder sisters still living, the house where little Charlotte stood watching her mother playing with baby Branwell on the rug."

No 74 Market St, Thornton

As the auction approaches Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Leeds' Emma Glasbey has been on a tour of the house with actress and writer Angela Crowe who is not only a member of the Bronte Society but a trustee of the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth.

Angela takes us into what would have been the Parlour: "This is where they took tea with the Firth family from Kipping House and of course they went down to Kipping House quite a lot. In fact they had a lovely friendship with the Firth family." In the 1830s Patrick Bronte wrote a letter to one of the Firths. Angela says: "He came back in 1835 and he looked around Thornton and he looked at all the places that he loved and the old friends that he knew and in this letter he said, 'I've never quite been well since I left Thornton. My happiest days were spent there'. I think that says a lot."

The heart of the house would have been the dining room and it's also where the Bronte children were born. Continuing on through the back kitchen we reach an old stone staircase which goes up to the maids' room: "Sarah and Nancy Garrs came from the School of Industry in Bradford and Nancy was 13 when she had the job and she was their housemaid and I suppose you'd call it a children's nanny these days. They slept in here and this leads directly into what was the nursery."

Angela points out a bathroom which in the Bronte's day was a dressing room: "When Aunt Branwell came to stay she stayed in there because the house was quite full." Just along the passageway is what would have been the Reverend and Mrs Bronte's bedroom. "There was nothing opposite except a sweep of green fields going down and then climbing up to Clayton Heights so they'd get a lovely view of those lush green fields around Thornton which you still see through little walkways and ginnels."

Angela and Tony

Now Angela hopes the house will find a loving owner: "I'm just hoping that somebody who's sympathetic to the Brontes will have it and put as much love and care into it as Mrs Whitehead did...Somebody who will be sympathetic, who will perhaps allow people to come and see it because you get the occasional person knocking on the door and saying, 'Could we possibly see inside?' There are lots of people who would love to see it. Hopefully somebody like that will buy it."

Auctioneer Tony Webber also pays tribute to the way Barbara Whitehead has looked after the house: "She's tried to recreate the Bronte time within the house and has looked after it beautifully. A credit to her!"

There's no guarantee, though, that the house will go to someone who loves the Bronte family and their books. Tony says: "We've already spoken to a Bronte enthusiast who has looked at it. On the other hand we've got a chap from London who just wants to relocate his family back to Bradford and has no interest in the Brontes whatsoever." Now it's up to the market to decide the future of this very special building.