Bronte Memorial House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The remains of a two-roomed rubble greystone walled house, located on the Brontë Road, at Imdel Towland., south-east of Banbridge. Rectangular plan, with walls around 0.5m thick, rising to a maximum height of 1.5m. Two rooms are enclosed, one approximately 3 x 1.5m, the other 3 x 2m. Entrance is located to north-east elevation.

The floor has been paved. To the rear corner is a rock-mounted bronze plaque, reading ‘PATRICK BRONTE / FATHER OF / CHARLOTTE, BRANWELL, EMILY AND ANNE / WAS BORN HERE / ON/ 17TH MARCH 1777’.

Setting

The remains occupy a rural
setting close to a crossroads. They are set alongside the road having a rectangular stone paved forecourt to north-east enclosed by a metal railing on concrete plinth wall, accessed from the road by a gate. A well formed in rubble stone is located at the opposite side of the road.

Historical information

Bronte Memorial House, originally a two-roomed single-storey vernacular dwelling in the townland of Emdale, was constructed in at least the late-18th century and was the residence of Hugh Bronte, father of the Rev. Patrick Bronte and grandfather of the famous literary sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte. Hugh Bronte was born in 1757 and died in 1808; his son Patrick was born in the cottage on 17th March 1777.

The dwelling appears on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as a small square building situated along the north side of the road; to the south of the site was a farm owned by a Mr. Robert Nesbitt. By Griffith’s Valuation (1862) the cottage was still in occupation, however the Bronte family had vacated the site at that time; Patrick Bronte’s brothers, James and Welsh Bronte, resided in the townland of Ballynaskeagh, further to the north of the Bronte Memorial House along the Bronte Road (HB17/08/019 A & B). It is not certain when the Bronte family vacated the single-storey cottage in Emdale; however it was possibly between c. 1830 and 1862 as there were no Bronte’s recorded in the Townland Valuation (c. 1830) for the townland of Ballynaskeagh.

Griffith’s Valuation notes that in 1862 the cottage was occupied by a Mr. William Colgan, valued at 15 shillings and was owned by Nesbitt (whose Will describes him as a local farmer; PRONI Wills). William Colgan was presumably employed as a general farm labourer and resided at the cottage until 1873 when a Mr. Alexander Dodds took over possession of the site. In 1886 the site was occupied by Joseph McAlister, however in that year the house was taken down and since that time has stood as an uninhabited ruin.

Hugh Bronte was originally from the townland of Lisnacreevy and worked as a labourer for local farmers, however in the 1770s Hugh eloped with Alice McClory (who was a Roman Catholic) and the two were married in Magherally Old Church (HB17/12/009C) before settling at Emdale (Belfast Newsletter; Magennis). Patrick Bronte was born in 1777 and was the first of ten children born to Hugh and Alice. In 1779 the Bronte’s vacated the single-storey cottage as each child was born; Hugh Bronte moved his young family back to the townland of Lisnacreevy after which point the Bronte Memorial House was occupied by other tenants.

As a young adult Patrick Bronte was employed as a school teacher and, with the assistance of the Rev. Tighe of Drumballyroney Church (HB17/09/011A), was established as schoolmaster of Drumballyroney School (HB17/09/011B) in the 1890s. The Rev. Tighe assisted Patrick Bronte in applying for Cambridge where he was ordained as a minister, leaving the Parish of Drumballyroney c. 1800. The Rev. Patrick Bronte married Maria Branwell and together they had five daughters and one son, the most famous of whom where Anne (Agnes Grey; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall), Emily (Wuthering Heights) and Charlotte (Jane Eyre), however Patrick tragically outlived all of his children who died before his own death in 1861 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; PRONI – Pedigree of the Bronte family).

In the late-1930s the Ulster Tourist Development Association initiated steps to preserve Hugh Bronte’s former dwelling at Emdale; photographs published in the Belfast Newsletter in 1937 show that by that time the cottage had fallen into the current state of ruin with only a few walls standing, although the original layout of the site was still preserved.

The Bronte Cottage has been preserved as a culturally significant historical monument; since 1956 the former dwelling has been in the care of the Bronte Homeland Trust. A plaque installed within the cottage records that “PATRICK BRONTE / FATHER OF / CHARLOTTE, BRANWELL, EMILY AND ANNE / WAS BORN HERE / ON / 17TH MARCH 1777.” The Bronte Memorial House was listed in 1977 and in recent years a modern information board has been installed outside the house which details the history of the Bronte family in the area.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/41/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/41/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1853
3. PRONI OS/6/3/41/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/41/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1903-1918
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/41 – Townland Valuation Map 1830s
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/357 – Townland Valuations 1830s
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/59A – Griffith’s Valuation 1862
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4A – Annual Revisions 1864-1876
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4B – Annual Revisions 1877-1887
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4C – Annual Revisions 1887-1898
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4D – Annual Revisions 1898-1911
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929
13. PRONI T1416/1 – Pedigree of the Bronte family 1745-c. 1900
14. PRONI COM/62/1/92 – Ulster Tourist Development Association: Minutes, agenda, press cuttings re preservation of the birthplace of the Bronte family 1936-1941
15. Belfast Newsletter (23 Feb 1937; 17 May 1937)

Secondary Sources

1. Magennis, P., ‘Banbridge: An illustrated history and companion’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 1996.

Online Resources

1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography -
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3525/?back=,3522

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

The remains of a two-roomed rubble greystone cottage, pre-dating 1777 and preserved as the reputed birthplace of Patrick Brontë, father of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. It is one of several structures in the area related to the Brontë family, including HB17/08/019A and B, and as such is part of a group of international literary significance. However, insuficient historic fabric survives and it therefore no longer meets the statutory and policy tests as a building of special architectural or historic interest.

General comments

Renumbered as part of the Bronte Road group of structures associated with the Bronte Heritage Trail. Formerly HB17/08/021.

FILE PA'd 15/04/15