Jane Eyre - Pocket Guide

Pocket Guide

Experience the home of Jane Eyre. See the settings & stories behind the new film set in Yorkshire, England’s Brontë Country.

IN SELECT THEATERS STARTING MARCH 11, 2011

Welcome to Yorkshire...

England’s biggest and most glorious county Welcome to Yorkshire – England’s biggest and most glorious county and also home to the famous Brontë family.

The names of the three Brontë sisters and the passionate novels they wrote will be linked forever with Yorkshire. Our landscapes, including the wild beauty of our heather moorlands, are to be found reflected in their writings. Our heritage, the sometimes turbulent times when this land was the cradle of the industrial revolution, is recorded in them too.

It’s not surprising that visitors come from all around the world to Haworth, to pay tribute to the memory of Charlotte, Emily and Anne.

But it’s not just Haworth where the Brontë story unfolds. As you’ll find, there are intriguing echoes of the Brontë family in other areas of Yorkshire waiting for you to discover.

Yorkshire was the land which once inspired the Brontës – now come, stay and let your own imagination roam free.

Gary Verity Chief Executive Welcome to Yorkshire

Film Synopsis In a bold new feature version of “Jane Eyre,” director Cary Joji Fukunaga (“Sin Nombre”) and screenwriter Moira Buffini infuse a contemporary immediacy into Charlotte Brontë’s timeless story.

Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”) and Michael Fassbender (“Inglourious Basterds”) star in the iconic lead roles of the romantic drama which continues to inspire new generations of devoted readers and viewers. In the 19th Century-set story, Jane Eyre suddenly flees Thornfield Hall, the vast and isolated estate where she works as a governess for Adele, a child under the custody of Thornfield’s brooding master, Edward Rochester.

The imposing residence – and Rochester’s own imposing nature – have sorely tested her resilience. With nowhere else to go, she is extended a helping hand by clergyman St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell) and his family. As she recuperates in the Rivers’ Moor House and looks back upon the tumultuous events that led to her escape, Jane wonders if the past is ever truly past…

Aged 10, the orphaned Jane is mistreated and then cast out of her childhood home by her cruel aunt, Mrs. Reed (Golden Globe Award winner Sally Hawkins). Consigned to the charity school Lowood, Jane does gain an education, but also encounters further harsh treatment which strengthens her resolve to stand up for herself and make just choices in life. As a teenager, Jane arrives at Thornfield. She is treated with kindness by housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax (Academy Award winner Judi Dench), while her interest is piqued by Rochester, who engages her in games of wit and storytelling, and divulges to her some of his innermost thoughts. But his dark moods are troubling to Jane, as are strange goings-on in the house – especially the off-limits attic. She dares to intuit a deep connection with Rochester, and she is not wrong; but once she uncovers the terrible secret that he hoped to hide from her forever, she flees, finding a home with the Rivers family. When St. John Rivers makes Jane a surprising proposal, she realizes that she must return to Thornfield – to secure her own future and finally, to conquer what haunts both her and Rochester.

Release date: March 11, 2011

MPAA Rating: PG-13

For further information about Brontë Country and all it’s fascinating history go to yorkshire.com/janeeyre COVER IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Mia Wasikowska stars as Jane Eyre with Michael Fassbender as Edward Rochester. Charlotte Brontë portrait from 1850s. Mia Wasikowska. Brontë Waterfalls, Haworth.

The Story of the Brontës The Brontës were the world’s most famous literary family and Haworth Parsonage, now the Brontë Parsonage Museum, was their home from 1820 to 1861.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were the authors of some of the best-loved books in the English language. Charlotte’s novel Jane Eyre (1847), Emily’s Wuthering Heights (1847), and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) were written in this house over a hundred and fifty years ago, yet their power still moves readers today.

The three sisters and their brother, Branwell, were very close and they developed their childhood imaginations through the

collaborative writing of increasingly complex stories. The confrontation with the deaths, first of their mother, then of the two older sisters, marked them profoundly and influenced their writing.

Charlotte, born in Thornton near Bradford on 21 April 1816, was a poet and novelist and is the author of Jane Eyre, her most well known work, and three other novels. She died on March 31, 1855 just before reaching the age of 39.

For further information about Brontë Country and all it’s fascinating history go to yorkshire.com/janeeyre

Nine inspirational ways to get to know orkshire Yorkshire offers a great range of inspirational ideas for every visitor. Whether you’re a culture vulture, serial shopper, foodie or a lover of the outdoors you’ll find it all in Yorkshire.

Heritage Yorkshire’s heritage includes magnificent ruins and imposing castles. The world famous York Minster towers over the historic city and you can visit Jorvik and experience Viking life! Imagine life as Lord and Lady of the Manor and discover Yorkshire’s many stately homes such as Castle Howard.

Yorkshire cities such as Leeds and Sheffield offer everything from café culture to clubs, brasseries to ballet and gardens to galleries.

You will find some of the best shopping opportunities around from Harvey Nichols to the famous historic Leeds market and you’ll be spoilt for choice!

Throughout the year there are many events around Brontë Country and here are just some of the highlights.

Jane Eyre The Well Dressed Governess October 14, 2011 The tale of Charlotte Brontë and her fictional heroine – both women of passionate intensity – retold by the History Wardrobe through the deceptively genteel fashions of the 1840s.

1940’s Weekend Haworth May 14 – 15, 2011 An annual spring event which sees locals and visitors alike parading the village, dressed in period 1940’s outfits. There are many nostalgic re-creations to enjoy, including an R.A.F. vintage aircraft flypast.

IMAGES FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. 1940’s Weekend, Haworth.

Indulgence Have an indulgent visit to Yorkshire and treat yourself to something special, unusual or downright decadent.

Spend an afternoon in the historic Harrogate Turkish Baths followed by a night at a gorgeous country house hotel and dinner at one of Yorkshire’s five Michelin-starred restaurants.

Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (various events throughout the year) Step back in time and enjoy a train ride through the heart of Brontë country. The sound of a steam engine tackling the climb echoes from the steep sides of the valley, while great clouds of steam and smoke add drama to the scene.

To find out more about more events in Brontë Country at yorkshire.com/events

Family Fun

Artistic Yorkshire art comprises acclaimed theatre companies, ballet, classical music and modern galleries. Combine the visual delights of Yorkshire’s landscape with the best of outdoor sculpture and visit the world renowned Yorkshire Sculpture Park or visit the famous David Hockney exhibition at Salts Mill in Saltaire.

There’s fun for all the family in Yorkshire. Why not step back in time and hop aboard one of our steam trains. Whether it’s the great outdoors, hands-on museums, the adrenalin rush of high ropes and zip wires, bike trails or just having fun on the beach, Yorkshire is perfect for families.

Delicious Yorkshire’s famed food and drink can be found in abundant quality across the county’s numerous markets, farm shops and restaurants. From Michelin to madras, rhubarb to real ale, cheese to Yorkshire Pudding, Yorkshire is simply delicious!

The Great Outdoors Yorkshire is famous for its countryside – the rolling hills, moors and dales. The National Parks of the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and the Peak District are perfect for walking holidays and the stunning coastline has some of the most popular seaside resorts in the UK.

City Life

Events

Sport Yorkshire is passionate about cricket and is home to Yorkshire County Cricket Club – throughout the summer you can watch Yorkshire cricketers in action. Yorkshire is equally proud of its soccer and rugby teams and throughout the winter months you can watch some of the best teams in Europe take to the field around the county.

Events and Festivals Yorkshire events cover a multitude of themes. For festivals, there is food and drink in the Dales and York, famous ales in Masham and of course many farmers’ markets.

Music festivals cover everything from Early Music (Beverley) to rock at the Leeds Festival.

IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: York Minster. The Headrow at night, Leeds. Salts Mill, Saltaire. Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Leeds Carnival. Limestone pavements, Malham, North Yorkshire. Cakes at Betty’s Café Tea Rooms.

On the trail of Jane Eyre

Haworth The heart of Brontë country

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Brontë Parsonage Museum

Haworth Parsonage still retains the powerful atmosphere of the Brontës’ own time, giving a wonderful insight into domestic life in the nineteenth century. The rooms the Brontës lived in are largely unchanged and are filled with their furniture, clothes and personal possessions. The museum has an extensive exhibition on the Brontës lives, full of fascinating treasures as well as interactive displays for families. There are also regularly changing exhibitions and special events.

It was this small town, eight hundred feet up in the Pennines, which was the Brontë family home from 1820 to 1861. Here, in the Parsonage beside the dark graveyard, was where the sisters’ great romantic novels were penned. Just outside the town, the vast sweep of wild moorland was both their playground and their inspiration.

Today, The Parsonage has become a world-famous museum, run by a charitable trust dedicated to telling the story of the Brontë family. The steep cobbled Main Street is home to a wealth of small independent shops, waiting to be browsed.

Tea-shops, pubs and restaurants are here too, serving good quality (and often locally produced) food.

Today, visitors can still see many of the features Charlotte described in her novel as they explore the fascinating period rooms and stroll through the gardens.

The Green Flag award-winning Country Park also includes waymarked walks and nature trails, picnic sites, playground, gift shop, café and a newly refurbished Countryside Centre.

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Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

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Oakwell Hall Birstall

Built in 1583 and set in 100 acres of parkland, the splendid Elizabethan manor house of Oakwell Hall inspired Charlotte’s description of Fieldhead in Shirley; the home of heroine Shirley Keeldar. The beautiful interior has been used in a number of adaptations of Wuthering Heights.

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Top Withens

High up on Haworth Moor, Top Withens is thought to be the location Emily Brontë had in mind for the site of the house Wuthering Heights, although the building bears little resemblance to the one she describes in the novel. It’s a windswept place, but one with its own stark beauty. The interesting outcrop of rocks known as the Alcomden Stones are close at hand, and well worth a detour.

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The full forty mile walk will take you from Oakwell Hall in Birstall across to Gawthorpe Hall in Lancashire, visiting on the way the Spen Valley (where Shirley was set), the wild moorland scenes associated with Wuthering Heights and the town of Haworth itself. Whether you’re planning the full distance or a shorter stroll, you’ll find plenty to enjoy in the beautiful countryside the Brontë sisters knew so well. More information and a pack can be obtained at the Haworth Tourist Information Centre.

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Soak up the atmosphere of the Brontë landscapes first hand. Get your walking shoes on and follow the Brontë Way, a waymarked trail which links key locations associated with the Brontë family.

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Red House Gomersal

As the home of Charlotte’s close lifelong friend Mary Taylor, Red House played a significant role both in Charlotte’s life and in her novel Shirley. Charlotte often visited the Taylor family (the ‘Yorkes’ in her novel) in the 1830s. Today this award-winning museum looks much as it would have done in Charlotte’s time, with period rooms and original furniture.

Find out more about Charlotte’s connections with the Spen Valley in ‘The Secret’s Out’ exhibition in the Old Barn. Experience local life in the ‘Spen Valley Stories’ gallery and stroll the restored 1830s gardens. End your visit browsing in the museum shop for books, toys and interesting gifts.

WAKEFIELD

East Riddlesden Hall Keighley

East Riddlesden Hall is a 17th century West Riding manor house with formal and wild gardens, duckpond and grounds. A National Trust property, the hall may look surprisingly familiar.

The distinctive exterior has been used in a number of adaptations of Wuthering Heights. The hall also boasts a traditional tearoom and shop. Through wandering the rooms, visitors can unravel some of the secrets hidden within the walls of this brooding house.

For more information about Yorkshire’s Brontë Country go to yorkshire.com/janeeyre

Out and about in Brontë Country 2

St. Michael and All Angels Church

The Brontë vault is inside the current church and holds the remains of all the Brontë family except Anne.

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Black Bull

The Black Bull public house was the haunt of Branwell Brontë, brother of Charlotte, Emily and Anne.

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Weavers Restaurant

Each December 19, the anniversary of Emily Brontë’s death, diners in the Weavers Restaurant wait for the arrival of an apparition known as the ‘grey lady’.

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The Old Apothecary

The Old Apothecary, where once Branwell Brontë obtained laudanum, is a shop which feels like a museum.

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Brontë Falls and Charlotte’s Seat

A short walk from Haworth will bring you to the edge of the heather moorlands which the Brontë sisters knew so well. From there it’s a three mile round trip to the little waterfall which bears the Brontë name. Don’t miss the nearby rock ‘chair’, where Charlotte Brontë is said to have enjoyed coming to sit and meditate.

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Ponden Kirk

There is a large block of dark gritstone which in times past was thought to have magical properties. At the base of Ponden Kirk is a hole described by Emily as the Fairy Cave. Local legend has it that, if you’re single and you crawl through the hole, you will marry within the year.

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Shibden Hall, near Halifax

Shibden Hall is a beautiful house dating back to 1420 which is now a fascinating museum. It holds surviving decorative stonework from the demolished High Sunderland Hall, a place with strong Brontë connections: it is believed to have been the model for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

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St. Peter’s Church, Birstall

Charlotte attended Birstall church when visiting her friends Mary Taylor and Ellen Nussey and the vicar inspired Charlotte’s character ‘Mr Hall’, the Rector in Shirley.

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Healds Hall, Liversedge

The former home of the forceful Reverend Hammond Roberson, an active opponent of the Luddites, is now the Healds Hall Hotel. Charlotte Brontë met Reverend Roberson only once but heard many stories about him, and based the strong character Mr Helstone in Shirley on him.

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Clough House, Hightown

Charlotte’s newly married parents, Patrick and Maria, lived in this threestorey house from 1812-15.

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Where to stay Cosy cottages in Haworth and rural farms in the neighbouring areas of Oxenhope and Oakworth are just some of the places to stay in Brontë Country. Here are just a couple of the many accommodation options in the area.

Old White Lion Inn

The Old Registry Guest House

At the heart of the Brontë village of Haworth, this family-run, 4 Star, 300-year-old coaching inn has 14 en suite rooms, restaurant and bar. The hotel looks down the famous cobbled Main Street and is opposite the Parish Church and Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Relax, unwind, kick off your shoes, snuggle up and make yourself at home in our beautiful B&B in Brontë Country. We’re perfectly situated on the cobbled Main Street of Haworth to enjoy everything about this unique Yorkshire village.

To find out more about accommodation in Brontë Country, order a brochure or book online go to yorkshire.com

St. Peter’s Church, Hartshead

Charlotte’s father was curate here at the time of the Luddite attack on Rawfolds Mill in 1812.

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WHITBY RICHMOND

All Saints, Dewsbury

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Patrick Brontë was curate of All Saints Church (now Dewsbury Minster) from 1809–1811. In 1810, his poem entitled ‘Winter Evening Thoughts’ was published and was the first piece of Brontë literature to be seen in print.

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Bell Chapel, Thornton

Before moving to Haworth, Patrick Brontë was the parson in Thornton for five years between 1815 and 1820, and it was in Thornton that four of the Brontë children were born. The old font, in which all the Brontë children except Maria were baptised has been moved to the nearby new church.

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Ponden Hall

Originally dating from 1634, Ponden Hall, near Stanbury is generally thought to be the house Emily Brontë called Thrushcross Grange, home of the Linton family in Wuthering Heights.

Today, Pennine Way hikers pass close by what is now a private residence.

To find out more go to yorkshire.com/janeeyre TOP IMAGES: Mia Wasikowska stars as Jane Eyre. Penistone Hill, Haworth.

IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Datestone, The Old Bell Chapel. Bell Chapel, Thornton.

Judi Dench as Mrs Fairfax. Mia Wasikowska stars as Jane Eyre.

Getting here Whichever part of Britain you’re coming from, getting to Yorkshire by rail, road or air couldn’t be easier – and the journey takes you through some of our most stunning scenery on the way. Yorkshire is easily accessible from Manchester airport or London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

YORKSHIRE BY AIR Leeds-Bradford International Airport has flights from Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Exeter, Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Isle of Man, London Gatwick, Manchester, Newquay, Plymouth and Southampton. You can also fly to Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, Humberside Airport and Durham Tees Valley Airport.

YORKSHIRE BY RAIL Get to Yorkshire by high-speed train from London or Edinburgh in less than two hours with Grand Central and East Coast services. TransPennine services offer direct links from the North West.

BritRail’s attractive range of passes

and point to point tickets offer great value, convenience and flexibility for exploring Yorkshire.

BritRail Passes are not available for purchase in Britain so please purchase prior to departure from www.visitbritainshop.us YORKSHIRE BY ROAD Britain’s biggest and fastest highways cross Yorkshire from north to south and east to west, making getting here by car very simple indeed.

For details of the quickest (or the most scenic) driving routes see the AA or RAC websites www.theaa.com and www.rac.co.uk

For more information about Yorkshire’s Brontë Country go to yorkshire.com/janeeyre

For more information, go to

visitbritain.com/janeeyre