Top Withens

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Top Withens (SD981353) is a ruined farmhouse near Haworth, West Yorkshire which is said to have been the inspiration for the Earnshaw family house Wuthering Heights in the novel of the same name by Emily Brontë.

A plaque affixed to a wall reads:

This farmhouse has been associated with "Wuthering Heights", the Earnshaw home in Emily Brontë's novel. The 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.

—Brontë Society 1964. This plaque has been placed here in response to many enquiries.

The ruin lies on the Pennine Way and is a popular walking destination from nearby Haworth and Stanbury. Such is the attraction to Japanese literary tourists that some footpath signs in the area include directions in Japanese.

Top Withens from the south.
Top Withens from the south.
Brontë Society plaque at Top Withens.
Brontë Society plaque at Top Withens.


Coordinates: 53.81398° N 2.03034° W