Having visited the Parsonage, we called into the church as well. Although only the tower remains from the one the Brontë family knew, there are memories from the Brontës both inside the church and in the surrounding graveyard. Below is the Brontë chapel within the church, paid for by an American admirer and dedicated in 1964. The communion table and chandelier are taken from the Old Church.
On display you can see the entry in the parish registers showing the burial of Emily on December 22nd 1848. The service was taken by Arthur Nicholls, the curate, who later married Charlotte. Understandably, Patrick was probably too upset to take his daughter’s funeral service, although he did take one in the November.
Below is the memorial tablet detailing the whereabouts of the Brontë vault where the family are buried, apart from Anne, who died and was buried at Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast. Sadly, Patrick outlived his entire family: I am a huge admirer of his (our younger son is his namesake) as he was a loving father and caring, pastoral minister to his parish and really feel for him as he lost his wife and all 6 of his children.
The memorial below commemorates the Revd William Weightman, perhaps a lesser known Brontë connection. He was curate for several years, and in a succession of curates who were ridiculed by Charlotte in her novel “Shirley”, he stood out as the family’s favourite. Caring, kind and full of fun, even to the extent of sending the Brontë girls a Valentine card each, it is said that Anne fell in love with him. Certainly he was a great support to Patrick and a good friend to Branwell when he was going through some soul-searching times, and the memorial is a moving tribute to his tireless ministry to the parish. He died aged just 26 from cholera caught while visiting a sick child. Maybe if this hadn’t happened, Anne’s story would have been very different.
Finally, the churchyard is also worth a look. It’s said there are over 40,000 people buried here! It is likely to have been a major contributor to the high death rates in the village, as some of the water supply came through it! Two of the Brontë family’s servants are buried here: Tabitha Aykroyd, who died in her 80s just before Charlotte, and had been with the family over 30 years, and Martha, daughter of the sexton and Branwell’s friend John Brown, who is buried with her parents under quite an ornate memorial. There is a board by the entrance to help you locate these.
