Brontë Birthplace and the Brussels Brontë Group

I was in Haworth over the weekend of 29-30 March, doing a recce for a trip to the Brontë village that I am organising for a small group of Brussels Brontë enthusiasts in June.  

In my travels, I visited the recently opened “Brontë Birthplace” in the village of Thornton. This is the house where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born while Patrick Brontë was curate there, before moving to Haworth. And I'm happy to share a small but special link between the Brontë Birthplace and the Brussels Brontë Group.

My co-organiser for the June trip to Haworth is Brontë traveller and blogger Joanne Wilcock, known to members of our group since she gave us a talk in October 2024. Joanne, who is one of the volunteers at the Brontë Birthplace, took me to the house and it was exciting to be one of its first visitors. We had an excellent guided tour by volunteer Gillian Wilson followed by coffee and a chat in the cafeteria that is one of the attractions of the Birthplace. 

The house has been lovingly and beautifully renovated and furnished with period furniture. Thanks to a fundraising campaign in which a notable figure was Nigel West, who has a family connection with the family of Charlotte Brontë’s husband, Arthur Nicholls, the house is now under the care of a community benefit society and will be run as a cultural and education centre, aiming to inspire young people through the example of the Brontës. 

Volunteers in front of the Brontë Birthplace

You can read on the Birthplace website about the “soft opening weekend” over which I was privileged to be one of the first visitors. 

Among the souvenir items for sale at the Birthplace is one that marks a link between the Brontë Birthplace and the Brussels Brontë Group! This is a card with a poem by poet Liliana Pasterska dedicated to the Birthplace, done in calligraphy by one of the BBG’s founder members, Marina Saegerman, who has illustrated it with a drawing of the house. Read Marina’s post below about how she became involved in this project as well as creating other designs for cards also available at the Birthplace. 

 Helen MacEwan 

My Brontë Birthplace challenge 

In December 2024, I was contacted by Liliana Pasterska, a poet based in London, regarding her poem that she had written for the Brontë Birthplace in Thornton. Liliana had already written a book with poems inspired by Anne Brontë and was writing another one with poems inspired by Emily Brontë. 

The Birthplace poem was a special project with the aim of raising funds for the renovation and maintenance of the Brontë Birthplace. Through Joanne Wilcock, Liliana was introduced to my calligraphy artwork on Brontë poems. That is how the idea to have her special poem done in calligraphy was born. 

This was a real challenge for me. When I read the first version of the poem, I had the idea that the calligraphy should be accompanied by a painting of the house in watercolour. Painting a building is not my regular watercolour art, usually it is nature that inspires me. However, I took the challenge and I must admit the final result of this collaboration pleased me (and Liliana).

From left to right, Gillian Wilson (our guide), Helen MacEwan and Joanne Wilcock
in the Brontë Birthplace. Joanne is holding the poem illustrated by Marina
and Gillian is holding a book that Joanne donated to the Birthplace.

 We were glad that also the Brontë Birthplace committee liked the result and was going to make prints of the design with the aim of selling them for fundraising purposes. 

I was then also asked to do the watercolour painting of the Brontë Birthplace building again, on its own, without the poem, so that it could be used for merchandise and publicity. In the meantime, the front of the house held no longer any secrets to me, so that was done reasonably quickly. 

I am really glad to see that the committee used this image for their communication regarding the reopening of the Brontë Birthplace at the end of March, and will probably do so in the future. 

Alongside this project, and inspired by Joanne Wilcock, I had developed my own idea for fundraising: I made four designs with poems about childhood written by the four Brontë siblings. I called it my Brontë CHILDHOOD project: one poem for each sibling. The original designs were presented to the committee in Thornton and could be used as decoration in the Birthplace, and also for prints and cards to sell in the shop. The result can be seen in Thornton! 

I really enjoyed doing all these projects. It connected me again to what I love most: calligraphy/watercolour and Brontë poems. 

Marina Saegerman