Brussels Brontë Group goes to Haworth (Part Three)

Monday was Anne Brontë day for the Brussels Brontë Group in Yorkshire, with a trip to Scarborough, where the youngest of the literary siblings is buried. 

The excursion included a walk on The Sands, which Anne knew well, lunch in an old funicular and a stop at Anne’s grave. The group was once again in the capable hands of Joanne Wilcock, who was joined at the seaside by Lauren Bruce, head of the Anne Brontë Association.

Brussels Brontë Group members at Anne Brontë's grave

 

On the coach ride, Joanne entertained the passengers with trivia about Yorkshire, while pointing out pig farms (“British bacon”) along the way. The coach dropped the group at the Esplanade on the South Cliff, to enjoy the views of the South Bay — as Anne Brontë would have done. Joanne pointed out the cliffside gardens down below. 

 

The group strolled along the Esplanade and across the Cliff Bridge, an 1827 footbridge, also known as the Spa Bridge, that spans the small valley from the Spa to St. Nicholas Cliff. Anne would have crossed this bridge frequently on her walks. The Spa building stands on the site of the original one that Anne would have known. 

Brussels Brontë Group members on the Cliff Bridge

Soon after crossing the Cliff Bridge, there is the St. Nicholas Café, situated in a disused funicular station, called a tramway here in Scarborough. Other tramways are still in use, taking tourists up and down the steep cliffs. The St. Nicholas Café has a great sea view and the group had lunch there in the funicular cars now secured at the top of their tracks. 

 

The group was joined by three fascinating people: Lauren Bruce, head of the Anne Brontë Association, which she founded here in Scarborough in 2023; the poet Emma Conally-Barklem, whose collection Hymns of the Sisters was inspired by the Brontë siblings; and Adelle Hay, author of Anne Brontë Reimagined. They would help the group enjoy the visit to the Yorkshire coast.  

Nearby is the Grand Hotel, which stands on the site of Wood's Lodgings. That’s where Anne stayed as a governess for the Robinson family, and where she died on 28 May 1849. She is commemorated on a blue plaque on the outside of the building. The hotel is no longer quite as grand as it used to be, but the building’s architecture and sheer scale are still impressive.

A winding descent deposited the group on The Sands, where Anne liked to walk and reportedly drove a donkey cart two days before she died. At least one member of the group took the opportunity to go barefoot on the beach (did Anne do the same?).

The Sands, looking out on a wide sweep of ocean, was a great spot for Emma to recite Anne Brontë's poem "The Arbour," which was included in the 1847 volume Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell:  

      The Arbour

I'll rest me in this sheltered bower,
And look upon the clear blue sky
That smiles upon me through the trees,
Which stand so thickly clustering by;

And view their green and glossy leaves,
All glistening in the sunshine fair;
And list the rustling of their boughs,
So softly whispering through the air.

And while my ear drinks in the sound,
My winged soul shall fly away;
Reviewing long departed years
As one mild, beaming, autumn day;

And soaring on to future scenes,
Like hills and woods, and valleys green,
All basking in the summer's sun,
But distant still, and dimly seen.

Oh, list! 'tis summer's very breath
That gently shakes the rustling trees -­
But look! the snow is on the ground -­
How can I think of scenes like these?

'Tis but the frost that clears the air,
And gives the sky that lovely blue;
They're smiling in a winter's sun,
Those evergreens of sombre hue.

And winter's chill is on my heart -­
How can I dream of future bliss?
How can my spirit soar away,
Confined by such a chain as this?

Then the group was off the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre, where, thanks to Lauren and the Anne Brontë Association, there is permanent display called the "Anne Brontë Corner" with books and information on Anne's experiences in Scarborough. Emma recited some of her poems inspired by the Brontës. 

Then the group walked up the steep hill to St. Mary’s churchyard to see Anne’s grave. The original gravestone is badly eroded, but the Brontë Society has placed a new stone on top of the grave (which corrects an error in the original one). Lauren recited one of Anne's wonderful poems here: 

Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day

My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring

     And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze;

For above and around me the wild wind is roaring,

     Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas.

The long withered grass in the sunshine is glancing,

     The bare trees are tossing their branches on high;

The dead leaves beneath them are merrily dancing,

     The white clouds are scudding across the blue sky.

I wish I could see how the ocean is lashing

     The foam of its billows to whirlwinds of spray;

I wish I could see how its proud waves are dashing,

     And hear the wild roar of their thunder to-day!

Above the churchyard are the ruins of Scarborough Castle. According to Ellen Nussey’s account of Anne’s death, on the evening before Anne died there was a splendid sunset and "The castle on the cliff stood in proud glory gilded by the rays of the declining sun."  

 

On the coach ride back to Haworth, the group got a glimpse of charming Yorkshire towns as the driver wended through the countryside. Then there was a lovely farewell dinner at Haworth Old Hall, a splendid 17th-century building at the bottom of Main Street. 

Brussels Brontë Group members in Scarborough