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| 1 - 1890's |
I wrote an article some time ago about a Bancroft family who farmed in the Worth Valley, and a connection they had to Top Withens, and after reading David’s book, thought I should go into the history of the farmhouse, from it’s time as a well maintained building to it’s present day ruin, which included the Bancroft's time when they were involved with it.
Originally known as "Top of th'Withens", Top Withens was probably built in the second half of the 16th century and was a well maintained Laithe-House [a farm with an attached barn] up to the end of the 19th century. Occupants secured sufficient income to rear large families by combining farming with hand spinning and weaving wool. However during the 19th century spinning and then weaving was taken over by the more efficient mills and the price of agricultural products was undermined by cheaper imports, which caused these remote farms to be abandoned as people moved closer to the mills and other amenities such as schools, shops and pubs.
During the first two decades of the 20th century Top Withens was only occasionally occupied by farmers, who rented the surrounding land for grazing. Windows were broken and internal wooden structures used as firewood. Increasing numbers of visitors came to see the farmhouse, because of the possible link with Emily Bronte’s book, Wuthering Heights, putting additional pressure on the building, and probably taking home a stone or other piece of the building as a memento of their time there. The photo at the top of the page shows the earliest date I have ever seen of the farmhouse at around 1890, when it was occupied and in relatively good condition, and as late as in the early 1920’s it was occupied and run as a small poultry farm, but by 1926 it was unoccupied again and the serious deterioration began.
Keighley Corporation had purchased the 3 Withens farms and land in 1903/4 as part of a water catchment area for a planned new reservoir, but their plan was delayed till the 1920's because of WW1. It was the 1930's before the Bancroft family of farmers came on the scene.
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| Keighley Corporation Minutes |
John Bancroft’s family, who farmed nearby, started breeding sheep during the
1914-18 war, and the family took on a lease from Keighley Corporation in 1933
to graze their stock on the moors surrounding the Withens farmhouse. John’s son George, in his strong local dialect, remembered....“It
wer’good land, but t' Corporation’s policy wer’ to let it go back …we hadn’t to
repair ony walls, it was just land fo' keepin' sheep”. When George’s father
took on the lease at first, the agreement was “ Fifty sheep, at a rent the
equivalent of £7 a year…we may have kept a few more, but restrictions were
imposed because just after t' war there 'ad bin’ gross overstockin’ by some
local men”
The following photos shows Top Withens now unoccupied, and although the
building still looks intact, but by now all doors and windows are blocked up. |
| 2 - 1930's |
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| George Bancroft |
When
asked if he’d had any bad winters up at Top Withens, he laughed and replied: “
Aye, we had one o' two bad winters…the worst spell o' weather were in't early
part of 1947. It began at t’latter end o’ January, but before then it were a
reight keen frost for two or three weeks. Soon after Christmas it’d start. It
started coming from over yon moortop, and when it does that, it’s north-east ,
you can expect summat. It niver gave ower till April. An' even in July there
were t' remains ow a snow drift up aboon Ponden Kirk. It were sudden...we
weren’t expecting it...not so bad. You couldn’t round your sheep up…you
couldn’t get theer! There’s been loads a'snow where there’s been more snow than
then, but t’north-east wind niver let up. You could see t'snow being blown ower
t'fields. Down t’middle of t' field there was very little snow, but under
t’walls and main road…well it were hopeless!.”
The Council had threatened to end the tenancy
in 1944, during the time the Bancrofts were tenants, because of contamination
of Lower Laithe reservoir from sheep dipping at Low Withens. The issue must
have been resolved because in 1951 the tenancy was transferred from John to his
son, George Bancroft.
In 1953
George asked permission to also graze cattle plus an increased number of
sheep. It is not clear if permission was given.
The following three photos show the buildings steady
decline from the 1950’s when the roof started to disintegrate, through
the 1960’s with the roof collapsed, and then the 70’s when all that was left
was virtually a crumbling pile of rubble.
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| 3 - 1958 |
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| 4 - 1960's |
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| 5 - 1970 |
As far
back as 1949 an article in the Keighley News described the desperate condition
of of the building with the headline:
Bronte Homestead now in danger of
collapse.‘….since then the house has
received no attention and within the last five years in particular has deteriorated a great deal. The gable of the farmhouse that has for so many years
borne the brunt of the elements is wearily leaning before the storms and is
pushing the tie beams of the roof and causing the opposite wall to crack and
crumble. The roof itself is breached severely in several places and where the
chimney once proudly stood there is just a cleft…whether it is malicious
hooliganism, whether it is just thoughtlessness of those who have idly
scrambled over the roof or whether it is the ravages of time and the weather
that have brought about this destruction matters little now, for the damage is
done. It is only a matter of time before the roof falls in and Higher Withens
follows the fate of Lower and Middle Withens, which have long been mere
rubble….Thus it seems that Higher Withens is doomed to rot; nothing can save it
from ultimate destruction. Perhaps someday we may see some little inscription
erected to the memory of a once happy homestead which inspired a noble poetess
and moved her humble followers.'
It was
not until 1964 that the sentiments expressed by the Keighley News were carried
out when the Bronte Society organised a plaque to be placed on what was left of
the farmhouse.
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| Top Withen's Plaque |
By the
1970’s the farmhouse was crumbling into a pile of rubble, with most of the
upper parts already collapsed. It was at this time that some work was finally
carried out to try and stabilise what was left of the building, but it was not
until the 1990’s before significant work was carried out to properly stabilise
everything, and the owners of the building and surrounding land were now
Yorkshire Water, who’s planning department said:‘We are managing the building as a ruin with a view to protecting it
from vandals, but at the same time making sure it’s accessible to visitors. Now
it has been re-pointed, the ruin will have a better chance of surviving
batterings from the elements.’
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| 6 - 1990's |
Today,
the building is in a stable condition, and although a ruin, it does not detract
from the beautiful surrounding countryside, and is visited by thousands of
tourists annually, many from all over the world..some of the signposts to the site are even in the Japaneses language! It is hoped that Yorkshire Water and the Bronte Society will
continue to give the building the loving care it deserves.
[ A copy
of David Riley’s book ‘ Top
Withens…Wuthering Hights…Haworth’ is deposited in Keighley Reference
Library and is also in the Lending Library, and I am grateful for him allowing me to use some of the information
from it.]
Sources of Photographs:
1.A Dinsdale [2006] The Brontes of Haworth. Frances Lincoln Ltd
2. D Smith [Valentine H 1887]
3. Francis Firth Collection
4. D Smith
5. D Smith
6 S Wood
Sources of Photographs:
1.A Dinsdale [2006] The Brontes of Haworth. Frances Lincoln Ltd
2. D Smith [Valentine H 1887]
3. Francis Firth Collection
4. D Smith
5. D Smith
6 S Wood
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| Present Day...with visitors! |
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