Helen Moat explores the routes and places that helped inspire one of the world's best-loved novels
In 1845 Charlotte Brontë arrived in Hathersage from Haworth in Yorkshire, an arduous 50-mile journey by coach through the Pennines.
From the coaching inn of The George, she made the rest of the way on foot to her friend, Ellen Nussey, who lived at the vicarage next to the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels.
The Pennines, whether in Yorkshire or Derbyshire, were a great source of inspiration for Charlotte’s Gothic stories.
It’s safe to say, Jane Eyre, set in an around Hathersage, is Charlotte’s most popular romantic novel. While in Hathersage, the idea for her book was born – the name lifted from prominent local family, the Eyres.
This is a walk that takes in the church, a rock-strewn Stanage Edge and the tower house of North Lees Hall, where a branch of the Eyre family once resided.
Its Gothic splendour, set beneath the moors was in Charlotte’s vivid imagination, the perfect location for Mr Rochester’s trials and tribulations at Thornfield Hall.
THE WALK
1. From The Dale road beneath the church, head up Hungry Lane, turning right onto Church Bank.
Take the cobbled pathway on your left, leading to St Michael and All Saints parish church.
Find time to nip inside. Seek out the medieval brass figures of Robert Eyre and his wife Joan of Padley, laid into the chest tomb beneath a grand stone arch in the sanctuary.
Look out for the vicarage beside the church. Here, Ellen’s brother proposed to Charlotte, just as St John Rivers had proposed to Jane.
Both men of the cloth were considering missionary work. Both had their proposals turned down; fact merges with fiction.
2. Having circled round to the back of the church, head through the car park to the corner of Church Bank road, where a stile takes you into a field.
Drop down through trees to a door surrounded by stone. I expected to head into Narnia on the snowy day I took this walk, but it was more autumn crisp, the woodland carpeted with frozen beech and oak leaves. It leads up to Moorseats, where the path veers right to meet a farm track.
Look out for a public footpath sign on your left. Climb the stile and climb up through the field to meet Leveret Lane.
Turn left, then take the path over the moorland on your right (just before a house). Cross over the moorland to another road (The Dale that climbs up from Hathersage).
3. Turn left onto another lane at Hooks Carr Car Park. Look out for a gap in the stone wall partway along the layby parking. Go through and climb up the well-defined pathway onto Stanage Edge.
Keep left to walk the edge of the escarpment. The rocky tors, great slabs of rock and the expansive views over Hope Valley and the Great Ridge are simply breath-taking.
I most recently walked this section of edge on a bright, still snowbound day but I’ve also walked in swirling mist and frigid ice. It’s the perfect location for a Gothic novel.
4. Just before the Great Causeway mountain track, go through the wall boundary and look out for a path on your left dropping down through the rocky escarpment. It leads to Hollins Bank.
Left of the toilet block, the green sign tells you the public footpath leads to Hathersage and Bamford. Follow it to drop down through stepped woodland, turning right onto a wider track.
Keep left to reach North Lees Hall. The path twists round to the handsome tower house with its battlements, dating from 1594.
Charlotte Brontë visited North Lees several times during her stay in Hathersage. Part of the house can be rented out, giving you the opportunity to sleep in a four-poster bed and soak up the same Gothic atmosphere that inspired Charlotte.
READ MORE: 5 Yorkshire walks that inspired the Brontë sisters
5. Continue down the drive from North Lees Hall. It leads to Birley Lane. Cross the road and follow the wooden fingerpost, dropping down to the sprawling farm buildings of Cow Close.
The rerouted path veers left to skirt the edge of the farm. The well-defined path follows a field boundary of trees, then veers right to follow another field boundary that descends to the brook beneath the church.
6. Cross over the brook and climb the steps to the church, retracing your steps round the parish church to your starting point.
COMPASS POINTS
Distance: 4.5 miles
Map: OS Explorer Leisure OL1, The Dark Peak Area
Grid reference: SK2354 8175
Difficulty: Moderate. There’s a long steady climb out of Hathersage to Stanage Edge.
Parking: There’s some roadside parking on The Dale. Please park considerately.
Refreshments: None on the route. Take a picnic and enjoy the views from the top.
READ MORE: How Derbyshire has inspired the greatest British authors
