The Real Wuthering Heights ― The Story of the Withins Farms

Top Withins Farm on Stanbury Moor, West Yorkshire, is internationally famous as the inspiration for Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and visited every year by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world. Apart from the Bronte connection it stands on the Pennine Way and is one of the highlights for the thousands who walk it each year.

As well as tracing the history of the Withins farms and their inhabitants from 1567 to the present day, this book looks at the everyday life of the farmers who lived there. It gives a full account of the building history, farming practices, textile production and domestic life over the years and is beautifully illustrated by splendid reconstructions of the buildings and their interiors and of the tools and utensils used in farming, weaving and cooking. It also describes a walk from Stanbury to Top Withins and back to Haworth, detailing the history of all the farms that are passed on the way, and gives a full account of the life of Timmy Feather, the last of the handloom weavers on the moors. In all, this book is the most complete and wide-ranging account of the life and work of a Pennine hill farm ever attempted.

Steven Wood has been living in Haworth for over twenty years. Since retiring from Bradford University’s School of Pharmacy he has devoted himself to the study of the history of the Haworth area with extensive walking and field work in the upper Worth valley backed up by research in libraries and archive offices. He regularly leads historical walks in the area and gives talks on its history. He has published four books on the Haworth area. Writer and museums consultant, Peter Brears, is one of the country's leading authorities on domestic life in the past, as well as a talented artist and expert interpreter of historic buildings. Among his numerous published works are Traditional Food in Yorkshire, The Country House Kitchen, and Cooking and Dining in Medieval England (Andre Simon Award, 2009).