Ponden Hall: The house that inspired Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights comes up for sale
A hugely charismatic country house in Yorkshire has come to the market, one with a great literary claim to fame: it was the inspiration for Emily Brontë's seminal novel Wuthering Heights.

There's a fundamental flaw with the teaching of English literature: tell somebody to read something, and it can't help but be a chore. Wouldn't it make more sense to let English GCSE and A-level students choose whatever they liked — from a reasonably decent list, of course — and take it from there?
All this is by way of introduction to my guilty little secret: a lifelong antipathy to Wuthering Heights. It might be a classic that redefined the concept of literature and all that jazz, but frankly I loathed every page. There wasn't a character in it I wouldn't gladly have strapped to a rocket and fired into the Sun, and as for the excruciating rendering of local dialect... words fail me, just as standardised spelling failed Emily Brontë.
In case anyone's wondering if I feel better for getting all that off my chest, the answer is 'yes, yes I do'. And part of the reason why is because my spirits have been cheered by the house on this page — a house which inspired the book that so tormented me as a 17-year-old A-level student. Sure, every brick bears an imprint of guilt for the horrors it helped spawn via the Brontë Pen of Doom, but that's not to say I can't appreciate why it might have inspired a budding writer.
The house in question is Ponden Hall, a great country house not far from the Brontë's parsonage at Haworth — and now on the market via Strutt & Parker at £1m. In the early 19th century the house kept an extensive library, and the Brontës were regular visitors; many details of the house, particularly the interior, suggest fairly clearly that it was the inspiration for the Lintons' home, Thrushcross Grange. Anne Brontë was just as inspired as Emily, incidentally: Ponden is also the model for the titular house in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Ponden Hall is in the village of Stanbury and is even accessed via a lane with a suitably Gothic name: Scar Top Road. It's huge: there are eight bedrooms, a paddock, four acres of land and a further two-bedroom annexe — ideal for the Nelly who looks after your family, or for use as a potential holiday let to Brontë-mad tourists.
The oldest parts of the hall date to 1541, but most of the house as it stands today goes back to 1634 — and the evidence of its great age is plain to see.
The beams, walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces and windows are gloriously authentic — and the owners have doubled-down on the effect with some wonderfully inspired furniture choices, especially with the beds. Don't fret about the fact that you'd struggle to find similar pieces yourself: the vendors are apparently happy sell it on via separate negotiation.
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
The heart of the house is a huge living/dining room, while there's a kitchen/breakfast room across the hallway. There are two bedrooms downstairs and six more upstairs, two of which are en-suite.
The annexe's two rooms are both en-suite and on the ground floor, with an open-plan living space above.
Ponden Hall has been run as a B&B and could just as easily continue as a business or once again become a family home. Either way, lovers of Gothic Romance will be hoping that it inspires another famous book. Future generations of A-level students, of course, may not feel the same way...
Ponden Hall is on the market via Strutt & Parker at £1m — see more details and pictures.
Inside Haworth: The humble parsonage where the Brontë sisters changed literature
Some of our most enduring stories were conceived at Haworth – Jeremy Musson enjoys a literary pilgrimage.
Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
Curious Questions: Would Anne Brontë be more famous without her two sisters?
To mark the forgotten Brontë’s 200th birthday, Charlotte Cory looks back at the life and works of this ‘runt of
'Unleashed, mad and dangerous': How Britain's wild, romantic moorland is our 'signature habitat', inspiring everything from Beowulf to The Hound of the Baskervilles
Mark Griffiths examines our ancient fear and fascination with ecologically invaluable moorland, of which we have more than any other
Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.
-
A bum deal on a bog-standard property? The former public conveniences being sold off for a song
London has several affordable properties with enviable postcodes and great lighting... so long as you're happy spending more than a penny on a Victorian loo.
By Toby Keel Published
-
In which country does the Royal Company of Archers act as The King's ceremonial bodyguard? It's the Country Life Quiz of the Day, October 16, 2025
Test your general knowledge in today's wide-ranging quiz.
By Country Life Published
-
A bum deal on a bog-standard property? The former public conveniences being sold off for a song
London has several affordable properties with enviable postcodes and great lighting... so long as you're happy spending more than a penny on a Victorian loo.
By Toby Keel Published
-
A castle for sale just down the road from Gleneagles, where everyone from George VI to a farmer and his pigs once roamed the grand halls
Orchil Castle has seen it all in a tumultuous century and a half — but it's getting back to its best, and now needs a brave new owner to take it on the next step of its journey.
By Toby Keel Published
-
Five homes with their own orchards that will be the apple of your eye (almost literally)
If you've been looking enviously this year at neighbours with apple trees that have been heaving with fruit, here is the solution: five lovely homes for sale that come with their own orchards.
By Arabella Youens Published
-
A beautiful Victorian vicarage that was home to one of the Cadbury family heiresses is on the market
Penny Churchill tells the tale of Monks Bridge in Warwickshire.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
An outrageously opulent mansion in London's answer to Beverly Hills, with a gym that 'wouldn't look out of place in a 7* hotel'
'One of the finest houses in St George's Hill' is on the market. Annabel Dixon takes a look at what's on offer.
By Annabel Dixon Published
-
Six homes with fantastic features, from pools and paddocks to waterside settings, as seen in Country Life
Our look at the best homes to come to the market via Country Life this week includes a Chipping Norton farm and a Cornish dream home
By Toby Keel Published
-
Queen Victoria's chaplain's house on the Isle of Wight is for sale, and it's a riot of colour, charm and joy
A stone's thrown from Queen Victoria's beloved Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, the house where her chaplain lived is now on the open market.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
An Art Deco masterpiece with five-bedrooms, a private pool, a cinema, a helipad and the ability to conquer oceans
Lady Christine is the very essence of opulence and could be yours for a cool €55.75 million.
By James Fisher Published