  The connection between Thorpe Underwood Hall and Anne Bronte is clear. It was at Thorp Green Hall (rebuilt in 1912 to become Thorpe Underwood Hall), between the years 1840 and 1845, where Anne Bronte worked as governess to the Robinson children. Anne and the Robinson family worshipped in Little Ouseburn Church; Little Ouseburn being a small village about one and a half miles north of Thorp Green. Several years after leaving Thorp Green, she used the area, some of its inhabitants, and her experiences there as models for a large section of her novel, Agnes Grey. In her novel Thorp Green became the village of 'Horton', Thorp Green Hall (Thorpe Underwood Hall) became 'Horton Lodge', and there, Agnes was governess to the Murray children. One of the more pleasurable aspects of Anne's governess post, was to accompany the family on their annual holidays to Scarborough, and it was with the Robinsons that Anne had her first, and indeed most of her experiences of the resort. In 1843, she obtained a post for Branwell at Thorp Green Hall: he was to take over from her as tutor to the 11 year old Edmund Robinson; however, this ended in disaster a few years later after Branwell had become involved in a secret affair with his employer's wife, Lydia Robinson, and the goings-on were discovered by her husband. © 1999 Michael Armitage |
||
|
||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
