Author guide · Where the stories happen

Charlotte Brontë's world

Explore the places behind Charlotte Brontë's stories on one map.

1 book · 3 places · behind Charlotte Brontë

Where do Charlotte Brontë's books take place?

Charlotte Brontë sets the story in invented places, each drawn from somewhere you can visit: Hathersage, Cowan Bridge, and Wycoller.

  • Hathersage
  • Cowan Bridge
  • Wycoller

  1. Places behind Jane Eyre

    • Hathersage

      Peak District, Derbyshire

      Charlotte Brontë stayed in Hathersage in 1845 while writing Jane Eyre. Nearby North Lees Hall, accepted as the basis for the invented Thornfield Hall, retains its battlements and is now let as a private home.

    • Cowan Bridge

      Lancashire

      Charlotte Brontë attended the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge as a child and drew on it for Lowood, Jane's invented school.

    • Wycoller

      Trawden Forest, Lancashire

      Wycoller Hall's ruins are thought to have inspired the invented Ferndean Manor, where Jane and Rochester reunite. The hall's two-storey porch was removed in the 1870s and re-erected in neighbouring Trawden.