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Ponden Hall

Buildings and structures in the City of BradfordGrade II* listed buildings in West YorkshireGrade II* listed housesThe Tenant of Wildfell HallUse British English from October 2018
Wuthering Heights
Ponden Hall
Ponden Hall

Ponden Hall is a farmhouse near Stanbury in West Yorkshire, England. It is famous for reputedly being the inspiration for Thrushcross Grange, the home of the Linton family, Edgar, Isabella, and Cathy, in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights since Bronte was a frequent visitor. However, it does not match the description given in the novel and is closer in size and appearance to the farmhouse of Wuthering Heights itself. The Brontë biographer Winifred Gerin believed that Ponden Hall was the original of Wildfell Hall, the old mansion where Helen Graham, the protagonist of Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, fled from her husband. Ponden shares certain architectural details with Wildfell: latticed windows, a central portico and date plaque above. The "old house" was built in 1634 by Robert Heaton (1587–1641) for his son, Michael Heaton (1609–1643), although the east end incorporates an older building from 1541. The "old porch and peat house" was later built by Michael's son Robert (1642–1704) and in 1801 the hall was re-built by Robert's great-grandson, Robert Heaton (1757–1817).In the early 19th century Ponden Hall held what was reputedly the largest private library in Yorkshire, which saw regular visits from Brontë children as they and the Heaton children would play together as well. There are two entwined withered pear trees on the property, said to be planted there by one of the boys, Robert, as he longed for Emily's heart (was not meant to be as she was a little older). In the 19th century the Heaton family were textile manufacturers – particularly wool. With the death of Robert in 1898, the last surviving Heaton male, the Hall was sold. The final Heaton male, George Smith Heaton, the son of Michael and Ellen Heaton of Royd House, died penniless at the Bendigo Benevolent Asylum in Victoria, Australia, on 12 February 1901.The house is a Grade II* listed building. The summary states that it was built in 1634 with an addition in 1801. "Coursed stone, stone slate roof, 2 storeys". The listing also listing states that the "farmstead built on the opposite side of the road" was demolished in 1956.The property was converted in 2014 into an award-winning bed-and-breakfast establishment.A September 2020 article in Country Life magazine provided an update, with photographs, about the property, after it was listed for sale for £1 million. The main house includes eight bedrooms while the annex has two. A great deal of care had been taken during restorations to maintain authenticity: "the beams, walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces and windows are gloriously authentic".

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Ponden Hall (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Ponden Hall
Ponden Lane, Bradford Haworth and Stanbury

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N 53.8301 ° E -2.0155 °
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Ponden Guest House

Ponden Lane
BD22 0HR Bradford, Haworth and Stanbury
England, United Kingdom
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Website
pondenhouse.co.uk

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Ponden Hall
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Lower Laithe Reservoir
Lower Laithe Reservoir

Lower Laithe Reservoir is a man-made upland reservoir that lies 1.2 miles (2 km) west of Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. The reservoir was initially approved under the Keighley Waterworks and Improvement Act of 1869 but work did not begin on its construction until 1911 and even then was delayed because of the First World War. The reservoir was officially opened in August 1925 in front of a crowd of over 8,000 people. Its final tally on cost was £500,000. The reservoir lies in the Sladen Valley and was often referred to as Sladen Valley Reservoir.The reservoir, alongside other nearby man-made bodies of water, was proposed to afford a better water supply to the town of Keighley and its environs. The reservoir dams Sladen Beck watercourse and takes water directly from the surrounding moorland including the stream that flows over the Bronte Waterfall. The catchment area is 1,200 acres (500 ha) and the Sladen Valley and Beck are part of the larger catchment of the River Worth and ultimately the River Aire.The reservoir has an embankment as the dam head which is straight and extends to a length of 1,010 feet (310 m), a height of 84.5 feet (25.8 m) and which also supports a road between Oxenhope and Stanbury village. The road (since known as Waterhead Lane) used to cut across Sladen valley taking a north west route from Intake Farm and going through the small hamlet of Smith Bank. The hamlet and its mill (which featured in Halliwell Sutcliffe's novel A Man of the Moors) were flooded when the reservoir was completed with the road being diverted northwards onto the dam head. The dam head is concrete with a clay puddle core. There is a spillway at the northern end which drops down to the adjoining waterworks facility.Stone for the reservoir was sourced from the nearby Dimples Quarry (now abandoned and in the Penistone Hill Country Park) which was 0.31 miles (0.5 km) south east of the reservoir. A narrow gauge railway was used to transfer the quarried product to the dam head which was operated by a rope worked incline. Clay for the central core was worked from a quarry 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Stanbury and necessitated laying a steam worked railway to bring the clay to the dam head.The spillway and embankment were modernized and improved as part of a £60 million programme of investment by Yorkshire Water. Lower Laithe specifically was found to not have been up to standards as laid down by an act of parliament in 1978. The water classification is listed as moderate in terms of ecology and good in terms of chemical quality as of 2015. Whilst the surrounding moorland is noted for its bird life, few birds live on the reservoir itself although some like the shelduck are frequent visitors.Sladen Beck joins the River Worth 0.62 miles (1 km) further east near to the hamlet of Lumb Foot.The grassed east facing slope of the dam head was used as a backdrop for a banner promoting the Tour de Yorkshire. The banner was unveiled in January 2014 as part of a wider 'Yorkshire Festival' by the owners of the reservoir and one of the sponsors of the festival, Yorkshire Water.