Monday 19 April 2010

The Bronte Sisters & Cowan Bridge



On way to dropping my daughter off at work, I noticed the plaque shown above at Cowan Bridge (Nr. Kirby Lonsdale)...
The School was the full building as shown in the photo (now made into 3 separate houses).
I have just found this information on the web from the "Haworth Village Brontes".

"Patrick found the strain of bringing up a family difficult and in 1824 decided to send Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emily to the recently opened Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge. In June 1825 Charlotte and her sisters were finally taken away from the school for good. However Maria and Elizabeth died of consumption soon after returning to Haworth. The poor conditions while at the school were largely to blame.

The experience of Cowan Bridge and the loss of her sisters had an affect on Charlotte. Her novel "Jane Eyre" (1846) the school "Lowood" is said to be based on her experience at Cowan Bridge....