Shirley

Set at the time of the Luddite riots in the heart of what is now known as West Yorkshire's Bronte Country , Charlotte Bronte's 1849 novel "Shirley" chronicles events around the backdrop of the industrial revolution.

Suggested by an actual attack on Rawfolds Mill at Liversedge in 1812 much of the action takes place in the Kirklees district, with Oakwell Hall and Red House featuring in the novel as "Fieldhead" and "Briarmains" respectively.

Charlotte's father the Reverend Patrick Bronte lived at Clough House in Hightown at the time of the riots, and it is likely that stories of the Rawfolds Mill incident told by him prompted her ideas for the novel. Just down the road from Clough House is the Shears Inn, a local pub where the Luddites are said to have met to plan their nocturnal assaults..


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