Last week a kind friend took me and another friend to see the parsonage in Haworth where the Brontë sisters did their writing. A very interesting place, and rather sad – Patrick Brontë, father of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, outlived his wife and all six of his children. We were there on a sunny day with cloudless blue skies when neither the parsonage nor the surrounding Yorkshire countryside could by any stretch of the imagination be described as “bleak”, but it was easy to see that come the winter, with short days and lots of rain and wind, it would have no problems at all living up to its less than cheerful reputation.
My friend’s interest was due for a large part to the fact that she has just finished her PhD thesis on Mrs Gaskell, who besides many other things wrote a biography of Charlotte Brontë. Although I was a linguistics scholar rather than a literature one, the 19th century is by far my favourite period, so I was happy to accompany her. But as a stitcher I was also fascinated by Charlotte’s needlework, some of which could be seen at the parsonage. There was a red tea cosy embroidered in white chain stitch, and some examples of whitework which unfortunately I couldn’t get a close look at as they were part of a room display.
Some pieces of her work, however, were displayed in cases and could be studied in more detail. Flash photography wasn’t allowed, so my photographs are a bit blurred, but I thought you might like to see two of the projects she worked. The first is a sampler finished shortly before her 12th birthday, made up of Bible verses and borders in absolutely minuscule cross stitches. She had a love of all things miniature, and that love obviously started when she was young. Foolishly I forgot to measure the sampler, so I can’t give you an idea of the scale; all I can say is that in some parts it was difficult to distinguish the individual crosses.
Again rather blurred, so no chance at all of seeing the individual stitches, but isn’t this an absolutely lovely needle roll? Clearly marked “Darners”, it is divided into useful sections all likewise marked with the size of the needles. Some time ago I made a very rough and ready needle roll out of felt marked with needle sizes, but not nearly so decorative – it was only meant to be chucked into a travel project bag. But having seen this I’m beginning to wonder whether it wouldn’t be a nice idea to make a less utilitarian one to keep at home by my larger projects.
And all this by candlelight!
I love the work of Mrs Gaskell!
I want to love the Parsonage too, but find it a bit on the clinical side, and not terribly welcoming. Having said that, I haven’t been for a couple of years so things might have changed. Glad you enjoyed it.
The Parsonage isn’t a particularly hands-on place, but the people were very helpful so perhaps they’ve improved since you were there Dee. Some years ago we took the PhD friend to Knutsford, where Mrs Gaskell did a lot of her writing and which I think was the model for Cranford. Well worth a visit if you’re interested in her work!
I wonder if it was by candlelight? That idea has never made sense to me, especially in regard to daughters of the manse who, presumably, had some time on their hands during the day when not writing? But the 19th century is something of a mystery to me, as I’m much happier in the 13th and 14th when I know they didn’t stitch by candlelight! 🙂
You’re right, Serinde, that at least some of it would have been done in daylight, but especially in winter I don’t think there was a lot of that precious commodity about. They don’t call Yorkshire bleak for nothing, apparently, though you wouldn’t think it from the weather we had!
I have done fine stitching by oil lamp myself, and calligraphy too, and found it surprisingly bright, although nothing like a modern daylight bulb or LED spotlight of course; but definitely workable.