Literary Visits
Hello, everyone!
My name is Kate. In addition to being a member of the Now & Then family, I am also an English graduate student from the U.S. What does this mean in relation to Yorkshire Best? Well, it means that I came 3,000+ miles to study literature in Yorkshire because I believe that it is the best, and amazingly rich in literary history.
So if you're a literature buff like me or just looking for an educational mini-vacation, I'm here to help you with a list of Yorkshire literary day trips/destinations. In fact, if you're visiting the region for a week or so you can combine them into a literary tour of Yorkshire!
The most celebrated and most obvious destination is Haworth. Just outside of Bradford, Haworth is a beautiful little rural village that also has the privilege of being the birthplace of the Brontë sisters. In addition to its natural charm, the area also hosts a museum in the Haworth Parsonage where the sisters wrote most of their novels. In the nearby Keighley you can also see some of the landscape that inspired Wuthering Heights. Sylvia Plath was even inspired by the area and wrote about it in poems such as 'Two Views Of Withens.'
A traditional steam train will take you through the sites for a modest price and there are regularly "period" themed events and guided tours held in the area. Additional information can be found on the Keighley & Worth Valley website: http://www.kwvr.co.uk/
Arguably the second most popular literary destination in Yorkshire is Whitby. Whitby is a seaside town which serves up awesome fish and chips at every step. It is also home to Whitby Abbey, otherwise known as Dracula's landing point in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. In the novel, the area is described in detail and there is a small "haunted house" attraction near the pier.
Well before Stoker popularised the abbey, though, it was the residence of Caedmon, the first identified English poet. In the churchyard of St. Mary's, near the abbey, there is even a memorial to Caedmon with the inscription: "To the glory of God and in memory of Caedmon the father of English Sacred Song."
On your way to Whitby, you may want to take the path going past (or through) Goathland. While it has been the setting for several TV programs and films, its biggest claim to fame (besides Heartbeat) is its use as Hogmede Station in the Harry Potter films. While not exactly a literary site, the film was based on the books, so why not?? You may even see the Hogwarts Express passing through. ;-)
In a small (free!) museum in Skipton called the Craven Museum & Gallery, you can see a rare edition of Shakespeare's first folio...one of only 49 copies in Britain and only 228 in the world (another of which is held in Uni Leeds' special collections).
Speaking of Leeds, did you know that Tolkien used to teach at the university and, perhaps, has a stronger connection to the area than may meet the eye? Click the link below to learn more;
Remember that Caedmon guy? Well, we know a lot about him because of another Medieval English scholar named Bede, later called Venerable Bede. He resided in York during the 8th century and, in addition to tutoring several influential members of the church, successfully applied to the Pope to make York an archbishopric. However, his biggest contribution to England as a whole was his Ecclesiastical History of the People of Britain which is now widely thought to be the first great Anglo-Saxon piece of literature.
York can also boast that it was the setting for the birth of Daniel Defoe's character Robinson Crusoe and in the 20th century York became famous as the home to poet WH Auden.
His birthplace, 54 Bootham, is still standing a there is a plaque to commemorate him.
Finally, we come to the only living author included on this tour of Yorkshire: the screenwriter and playwright Alan Bennett who has since traded the surroundings of his native Armley, Leeds for the (dis?)comfort of Camden Town in London.
Hopefully you've learnt some things on this modest literary tour of Yorkshire but if you haven't, or if you still crave more, I highly suggest you take a day trip to visit one (or more!) of the sights listed. They will furnish you with much more information than I ever could and, I promise, you won't be disappointed!
