Back in March the 20th my long planned visit to Elizabeth Gaskell's house finally happened to my immense excitement. It was one of my pilgrimages in the footsteps of the Brontës, Elizabeth Gaskell being Charlotte Brontë's first biographer and the only one who actually knew her; Charlotte and Elizabeth were friends for the last five years of Charlotte's life, and Charlotte visited her friend in her Manchester home three times, in 1851, 1853 and 1854.
The house is presented as it was at the time the Gaskells lived there. There aren't many furnishings that belonged to the family, but all the furniture is from that period.
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| The manuscript of the biography of Charlotte Brontë. |
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| Contents of the cabinet in the Morning Room. At the bottom left there is a portrait of Elizabeth created shortly before she married William. |
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| William's Study and Gaskells' library. |
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| Inner Hall and the entrance to the Drawing Room. |
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| The Drawing Room. Elizabeth was a very sociable, gregarious woman who liked to have guests and visitors in the house. In this room she received her friends and other guests, served tea and listened to her daughters playing the piano. |
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| The Drawing Room. The chintz used for the curtains and chair covers today is copied from a pattern of the 1850s printed in Lancashire, and the carpet was woven using a Victorian pattern preserved by a mill in Halifax. |
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| A knitted figure of Charlotte Brontë sitting on the drawing room windowsill. There is a story by which, on one of her visits, Charlotte, who was painfully shy, hid behind the curtain when another visitor of Elizabeth's was announced. |
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| The Drawing Room. The Manchester Guardian described the house as "a place of light and warmth for the hearts and minds". |
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| The table Elizabeth used for writing. It is part of the dining room and sits near the communicating door between the drawing room and the dining room. It wasn't a quiet place, but one bustling with family life, and it is curious that Elizabeth chose it as her favourite place to write. |
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| A reproduction of the last page Elizabeth wrote - of her final and nearly finished novel "Wives and Daughters". |
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| The Dining Room. The dining table was large enough to seat 20 guests. It is laid for a family lunch with two main courses (soup and roast meet) presented on the table at the same time, an old style of dining known as "a la francaise". |
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| A scene from the beautiful back garden. Elizabeth loved her garden and was a keen gardener herself; she loved to grow both flowers and vegetables. |
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| At the side of the house I came across this slab inscribed with Charlotte Brontë's words. |
Upstairs, the bedrooms have not been recreated, but the space is used for an extensive exhibition on the Gaskells' servants - accounts of their life and a display of tools and utensils used by them. The family had five servants including Elizabeth's lady's maid Ann Hearn, who was also a friend and a vital family member.
In the basement there is an inviting tearoom in what used to be the kitchen. After a refreshing cup of coffee I was ready to leave this beautiful and inspiring house.
However, there was another place in Manchester I wanted to see on the day; another Brontë landmark, only a short walk away.
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| The Salutation Inn. One of the oldest pubs in Manchester, a place where Charlotte Brontë and her father Patrick took lodgings in 1846 while in the city for Patrick's cataract operation. They stayed here for about a month, and it was here that Charlotte started writing her most famous novel "Jane Eyre". |
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| The Brontë menu at the Salutation was certainly very tempting. I planned to have lunch here anyway and couldn't resist trying a "Brontë burger". It may have not looked all that special, but it was really good! |
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| The Salutation Inn. One last shot of the day, before I headed back to Manchester train station. |
It was now a rush hour and I didn't want the mundane hubbub of a big city to spoil the spirited mood inside me; I opted for the quickest and mentally least disruptive way of getting back to the station - a taxi ride. Once on the train I closed my eyes and fondly ran through in my mind all the beautiful, memorable moments of the wonderful day I had just had.
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