A mesmerising portrait in the eerie country house that inspired Charlotte Brontë to write 'Jane Eyre'

Sir James and Lady Graham stand beside a chalk portrait by French Society artist Théobald Chartran of Sister Charlotte Harriet Graham (1839–1927). She was one of nine legitimate children of Sir Bellingham Graham, 7th Baronet of Norton Conyers, who squandered his fortune on ‘slow horses and fast women’. In 1870, aged 31, Charlotte joined the Community of St Peter, an Anglican nursing order and, in 1893, became the head of St John’s House, London. She ran this ‘training institution for nurses for hospitals, families and the poor’ for 18 years.

‘We love this portrait, as the sitter looks kind, calm and sensible,’ says Lady Graham. ‘James feels that her taking the veil may have been a reaction to her father’s feckless and irresponsible behaviour. The artist has captured her compassionate and gentle, but firm character, as well as her authority. She keeps this part of our house peaceful.’

Sister Charlotte is only the second most noteworthy Charlotte linked to the house — and by coincidence, she was born in the same year that her more illustrious namesake visited Norton Conyers. Charlotte Brontë came to the house in 1839, and was — according to her friend Ellen Nussey — much impressed by the house in general, and in particular a dark tale that was part of the Graham family history.

'Like any good novelist, Brontë used her impressions of several houses to build up a picture of Thornfield, Mr Rochester's country seat in Jane Eyre,' Gervase Jackson-Stops wrote in Country Life in 1986, shortly after Sir James took over the the stewardship of the house. 'Yet Norton Conyers, which she visited in the summer of 1839, as governess to the then-tenants' grandchildren, contributed one of the most important ingredients in the book — the Graham family legend of a madwoman confined in the attics.'

The woman in question was referred to as 'Mad Mary', as Lady Graham herself explained in a 2003 article in Country Life. 'Who she was, whether servant or family, is not known,' Lady Graham wrote. 'Perhaps she was a servant who had children by "master" and who suffered from epilepsy or post-natal depression rather than madness.'

Although Brontë's connection to Norton Conyers was well known for many years, confirmation of the existence of the attic didn't come until part of the long refurbishment work undertaken by Sir James and Lady Graham removed some panelling to reveal a previously hidden staircase. Sir James — whose family have owned the house since the mid 17th century — asked for a hollow-sounding panel to be investigated, and his hunch proved correct: stairs up from the 'Peacock Room' to an attic room were uncovered.

There seems little doubt then Brontë based her timeless tale in large part on Norton Conyers. ‘We believe that the house inspired Thornfield Hall and the mad Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre,’ observes Lady Graham.

Both house and gardens at Norton Conyers are open on some days each year. The Norton Conyers website has full details.