Emily Brontë Stone on Ovenden Moor, Between Thornton and Haworth, Brontë Country

 

"She stands outside

A book in her hands,

"Her name is Cathy", she says

"I have carried her so far, so far

Along the unmarked road from our graves

I cannot reach this window

Open it, I pray."

But his window is a door to a lonely world

That longs to play.

Ah Emily. Come in, come in and stay.


~ Kate Bush, 2018 ~


Looking for Emily Stone took me for an exhilarating walk on remote and for me hitherto undiscovered moorland. It was a perfect time of the year for a hike to the stone with purple heather in full bloom and moody light from the rain threatening sky.


Emily Stone is a natural rock, part of Ogden Kirk, inscribed with the above poem by Kate Bush, English singer-song writer. The stone was unveiled in 2018, the year of Emily's bicentenary birthday, and also the 40th anniversary of the release of Kate Bush's single "Wuthering Heights", which was inspired by Emily's novel of the same title. 
In Victorian times -  the time the Brontës lived in, Ogden Kirk was a popular picnic spot. A good Brontë family friend, Elizabeth Firth mentions in her diary coming to this beautiful, elevated and secluded places for a picnic with Patrick Brontë and his children. Subsequently, Emily who loved long and distant walks is almost certain to have frequented this place herself, which is the main reason for the location of this stone. 





















Emily Stone is part of a group of four stones in Yorkshire landscape, each one remembering the literary Brontë sisters in the countryside they lived in and which profoundly inspired all their work. Brontë Stones, as well as four Brontë Stones Walks are devised by writer Michael Stewart. 











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