Bronte Waterfalls
OS grid reference:- SD 998 357
The Bronte Waterfalls are situated on Haworth Moor and lie about a mile to the south west of the moorland village of Stanbury, near Haworth, in what is now known as Bronte Country. It is an area of outstanding beauty and famous for its association with the Brontė sisters who drew inspiration from the rugged moorland landscape.
'The rugged bank and rippling brook were treasures of delight. Emily, Anne and Branwell used to ford the streams, and sometimes placed stepping stones for the other two; there was always a lingering delight in these spots, every moss, every flower, every tint and form, were noted and enjoyed. Emily especially had a gleesome delight in these nooks of beauty, her reserve for the time vanished.'
- Ellen Nussey, correspondence to Mrs Gaskell
The Bronte Waterfalls consist of a series of small stepped falls over layers of grit stone on South Dean Beck. The falls were described by Charlotte Brontė as "fine indeed; a perfect torrent racing over the rocks, white and beautiful".
Below the falls stands an old stone bridge known as Brontė Bridge which crosses the beck. A stone at the waterfalls is known locally as the Bronte chair.
A nature trail known as the Bronte Trail starts from Haworth and crosses the moors to the waterfall, the moorland on the way to the falls is famous for the birds that breed there, including curlews, golden plover peregrines and merlins. It continues to Top Withens, an abandoned farmhouse on the moors which is said to have been the inspiration for Emily Bronte's classic masterpiece 'Wuthering Heights'.