Top Withens is situated on Howarth Moor in West Yorkshire, just a mile or so outside the historic Airdale village of Howarth, famous for being the home of the Bronte sisters.<\/p>\n
This whole area is festooned with wild, windy moors and punctuated by deep dikes and mad becks. Top Withens is commonly believed to be the inspiration for the Earnshaw family house featured in Emily Brontes 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights.<\/p>\n
I say \u2018commonly believed\u2019 because there is no absolute proof as fact. A plaque fixed to the outside of the ruin by the Bronte Society states that \u2018the 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\u2018. That said, Top Withens attracts visitors from all over the world, particularly the Japanese for some reason, whose love for Wuthering Heights is well documented; there is even a dual-language signpost nearby, pointing oriental Bronte-seekers in the right direction\u2026<\/p>\n