Top Withens in England | Atlas Obscura

This small West Yorkshire farmhouse was built some time before 1567, and initially consisted of a single farm (known as Withens Farm) before being expanded into three farms known as Top, Middle, and Bottom Withens in 1591. Centuries later, the farm was still in use in the 1840s when Yorkshire native Emily Brontë wrote her novel “Wuthering Heights”, initially published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell.

In 1872, publisher George Smith wrote a letter to Brontë’s friend Ellen Nussey asking for information about the inspiration for various locations in Brontë’s novels, which led to Top Withens being used as the inspiration for the titular farmhouse’s design in an 1873 illustrated edition, despite it not being accurate to the book’s description of a large, austere country home.

In 1930, Bottom and Middle Withens were destroyed by the Keighly Corporation, who had purchased the building in 1903, due to vandalism, and blocked the windows and doors of Top Withens. Since then, the building has continued to deteriorate despite attempted renovations.

In 1964, the Brontë Society had a plaque placed on the side of the building reading, “THIS FARMHOUSE HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH ‘WUTHERING HEIGHTS,’ THE EARNSHAW HOME IN EMILY BRONTË’S NOVEL. THE BUILDINGS, EVEN WHEN COMPLETE, BORE NO RESEMBLANCE TO THE HOUSE SHE DESCRIBED, BUT THE SITUATION MAY HAVE BEEN IN HER MIND WHEN SHE WROTE OF THE MOORLAND SETTING OF THE HEIGHTS.”