If you fancy walking the churchyard in Haworth ............. plan your trip carefully

Now if you have to do a bit of research there is a bonus in it being in the parish church yard at Howarth.*

Throw in the fact that this was a trip out for our Jill and Geoff up from London and all set well for a promising jolly.

I reckoned that we could do the Bronte museum take in all the touristy shops and grab something to eat with me wandering off to look for the gravestones of the Sunderland family.

The research was linked with the ever growing story of Mr Henry Hurdus who brewed ginger beer and other such drinks from his brewery in Hollinwood, with one of his lost glass bottles discarded in Alexandra Park in the 1890s.

The story has taken some nice twists including making contact with Annette a family historian in Australia and talking to her relative Olive who during the 1950s visited the very brewery.

Olive is directly related to Mr Hurdus and in the course of a conversation yesterday with Olive she mentioned that another branch of the family was buried in Haworth.

That just set the seal on the day.

But even the best laid plans can go awry.

Last time we had been there it had been in spring, on a sunny  day.  The tourists were out in droves and the Bronte house along with the grave yard, the parish church and shops were all at their best.

Yesterday was different.  The rain came down like stair rods and worse when the wind got up the church yard was no place to be.

Added to which by 3 pm many of the shops were closing.

Still there was the pub and Geoff and I were given instructions by Tina to go find a pub with food, which we did.

The sign outside the place advertised food, but having bought the beer settled down to ask for the menu we were told “food was off till tomorrow.”

Such are the problems faced by the would be researcher.

That said there was another which offered up a good meal some pleasant beer all of which retrieved the day.

And that just leaves me to fix a date in spring for a return.

Pictures; Haworth, 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Haworth, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Haworth