This post was most recently updated on March 20th, 2018
Love English literature? Dream of seeing the world through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennett or Jane Eyre, Heathcliff or Mr Darcy? Step this way and enjoy our tour of ten wonderful English literature locations made famous by the great classics.
Norton Conyers House – Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
By Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
Reopened in 2016, Norton Conyers House in North Yorkshire is said to be the inspiration behind Thornfield Hall, the forbidding gothic mansion to which Jane Eyre is despatched as governess to the daughter of Mr Fairfax Rochester.
A young Charlotte Brontë visited the house in 1839 and heard the story of a mad woman locked in its attic, inspiring her to create the character of Mr Rochester’s first wife, Bertha.
Today, the house is open to the public on selected dates between April and August (see www.nortonconyers.org.uk/ for details), and you can even visit the “Mad Woman’s Room”!