There are many great books set in the Yorkshire Moors, but few are as evocative as those in from sisters who, under pen names, took the wild desolation and beauty of the heather-clad moors and sent them around the world.
Wuthering Heights Moors
The Wuthering Heights moors were inspired by Emily Brontë's immediate surroundings in the moorland around Haworth. The turbulence of Catherine and Heathcliff's relationship is a picture of those moors in late autumn and winter, where the day struggles to loosen the grip of darkness and where storms surge and disorient those walking the land.
These moors were then, and to a certain extent still are, a landscape of isolation. One could walk over the gorse and peatland for hours and never see another soul. In these moments, the moor shows its own soul and this is something Brontë captured perfectly. The moors of Earnshaw were their own character. Mysterious, cruel and unrelenting.
Wildfell Hall Moors
Anne Brontë also captured the windswept gothic beauty of the Yorkshire moors. In the Tenant of Wildfell Hall, she tells the story of a woman escaping an abusive relationship to a dark, isolated house in the middle of moors. The bleak isolation Anne presents is, similar to her sister's work, a reflection of the story she tells. The character's own tribulation is told through landscape as well as narrative. Here though, there is the hint of consolation between the two.
The Real Yorkshire Moors
The truth is that the Brontës captured quite perfectly one side of the moors. There is no doubt that they can be wild, desolate and haunted. However, from my experience, walking in isolation here is the most awe-inspiring experience. It provides a depth of peace and stillness that is hard to find anywhere else.
And whilst the colour drains in late autumn and winter, the rest of the year provides an array of colour, from the stunning purple heather to the wide open blue skies. The Yorkshire moors uplift and console. Bring stillness and enlivenment.
For more on the Yorkshire Moors. Get our Yorkshire Moors Reading Guide.
