Bronte Weather Project

Charlotte's Wind

2012-02-29T17:10:00.000Z

I've been going through Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte to work out how many times and what type of weather conditions are mentioned throughout the book.

So, out of interest Charlotte mentions the wind the most - a total of 62 times. Closely followed by rain at 52 times and temperature at 46 times. There is also descriptions of the sky (28 times); the sun (25 times); clouds (24 times); snow (23 times); frost and ice (21 times); the moon and stars (cloudless nights - 19 times); storms and gales (12 times); thunder and lightening (6 times); mist (6 times); dew (5 times); and fog (3 times).*

I'm now going to see what kind of references Emily Bronte mentions in Wuthering Heights and Anne Bronte mentions in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

*It doesn't necessarily mean there are 6 thunder storms in the book - but that the thunder of one storm is mentioned a few times.

Emily Bronte's Poems

2012-02-23T14:18:00.000Z

I am aware i've neglected the blog in the last couple of weeks, sorry. My life was taken over by having to do some fund raising for another project - but don't worry, even though i feel like the life has been drained from my body, i managed to survive the ordeal with only minor brain ache and i'm slowly regaining the feeling in my limbs.

In the meantime i have still been trying to concentrate on all things Bronte and went to the Bronte Parsonage Museum last week to see if i could see some originals of Emily Bronte's poems.

There's not many originals of Emily's writing to survive and what the Museum holds is on display. So I couldn't handle any of the works and the image isn't great (the work is behind glass in a dimly lit room).

How fascinating her writing is with minuscule text, ink blots and doodles. It's the smudges and idle little sketches that seem to bring it to life - Emily Bronte made those marks. Having said that, with her writing being so small, behind glass in low lighting and my rubbish eyesight i couldn't read a bloody thing.

To a Wreath of Snow

2012-02-14T13:29:00.000Z

O transient voyager of heaven!

O silent sign of winter skies!

What adverse wind thy sail has driven

To dungeons where a prisoner lies?

Methinks the hands that shut the sun

So sternly from this mourning brow

Might still their rebel task have done

And checked a thing so frail as thou

They would have done it had they known

The talisman that dwelt in thee,

For all the suns that ever shone

Have never been so kind to me!

For many a week, and many a day

My heart was weighed with sinking gloom

When morning rose in mourning grey

And faintly lit my prison room

But angel like, when I awoke,

Thy silvery form so soft and fair

Shining through darkness, sweetly spoke

Of cloudy skies and mountains bare

The dearest to a mountaineer

Who, all life long has loved the snow

That crowned her native summits drear,

Better, than greenest plains below –

And voiceless, soulless messenger

They presence waked a thrilling tone

That comforts me while thou art here

And will sustain when thou art gone

Emily Bronte (1837)

I've just finished reading through a number of poems written by Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell Bronte - i'm hoping that i can also see any originals held at the Bronte Parsonage Museum later this week - i'll keep you posted.

Thanks to Mike from Stanbury for the beautiful images of snow on the moors surrounding the Bronte Parsonage Museum taken in the last couple of weeks.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

2012-02-03T11:51:00.000Z

"But now, - at evening, when I see the round, red sun sink quietly down behind those woody hills, leaving them sleeping in a warm, red, golden haze, I only think another lovely day is lost to him and me; - and at morning, when roused by the flutter and chirp of the sparrows, and the gleeful twitter of the swallows - all intent upon feeding their young, and full of life and joy in their own little frames - I open the window to inhale the balmy, soul-reviving air, and look out upon the lovely landscape, laughing in dew and sunshine, - I too often shame that glorious scene with tears of thankless misery, because he cannot feel its freshening influence..."

Written by Anne Bronte (published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell)

I just finished reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. I like Anne's writing and although she doesn't use or refer to the weather as much as Emily and Charlotte do, there are a few lovely weather quotes within the text. A novel about the plight of a woman married to a drunk womaniser it reveals the lack of rights of married women. Anne's moralising can be a bit much at times (it could be 100 pages shorter) but i love that it points out the bad treatment of women in an earnest, unfaltering way. It's interesting that Charlotte Bronte tried to prevent any reprinting of it after Anne's death thinking that "the choice of subject was an entire mistake".

London Clouds

2012-02-01T12:18:00.000Z

While in London I was perusing the displays in Tate Britain and saw this book of etchings by Alexander Cozens (1717 - 1786) "A New Method for Assisting the Invention in the Composition of Landscape" where he has made sample etchings with notes on how to depict clouds in artworks. I quite like the idea of a guide to the creation of clouds in art.

Weather Instruments

2012-01-30T11:43:00.001Z

For a few days last week i went to London to look around various galleries and museums and i had time to go to the Science Museum to look for old weather instruments that might have been used during the time that the Bronte family were alive (1800's). Please also refer to my blog entry about Abraham Shackleton's weather records (23rd Nov: 'Weather Diaries').

There were only a few objects on show - and in the dull museum lighting it wasn't easy to get good shots - but the above shows:

A diagonal barometer by Joseph Finney c.1770

A travelling barometer by Nairne and Blunt, late eighteenth century.

A plate showing 15 temperature scales , from JT Desaguliers, 1745

A rain-gauge, early nineteenth century

Saussure's eight-hair hydrometer by Richer, 1789

A greenhouse thermometer by Dudley Adams, c.1798

Six's maximum and minimum thermometer, using indices, c.1780

Clouds and Collecting

2012-01-20T12:06:00.002Z

I met all the weather collectors yesterday for a cup of tea and a chat about the weather. Plus they gave me their cards that they've filled in so far and collected replacement ones. 100 days have already passed since they started noting the weather everyday.

I've loved looking through the comments on the cards - often alongside the weather notes are personal additions about wildlife observations, family stories and effects the weather has had on daily routines (drying washing outside, journeys delayed, walks on to the moors etc). I really love reading them.

One event that got the whole group talking was an unusual cloud formation that they all witnessed (or not - to the annoyance of one collector). It was on 22nd Dec over the valley and was an Altocumulus lenticularis. My Met Office cloud books says:

" These elegant lenticular ('lens-shaped') altocumulus clouds are formed when a flowing layer of moist air is uplifted by the slope of an intervening hill or mountain. The wind that carries the air over a mountain rises gently, cooling unevenly as it does so, sending bouncing waves of moisture-laden air streaming away from the obstruction. Lenticular wave clouds form in the crests of these air waves."

It was also later reported on the local news too.
One of the collectors noted: " Amazing cloud formation that looked like a 5 level multi-storey car park just hovered over."

And he's not far wrong - the image above is of Preston Bus Station (which is a multi storey car park above). An amazing cloud - an amazing building.

Thanks to Mike for the wonderful image of the cloud taken from his house in Stanbury.

Failing Eyesight

2012-01-17T14:38:00.001Z

I spent a few days last week making drawings of the collected weather data on to graph paper.
Let me explain:

So far since October i've read hundreds of letters by the Bronte sisters and also Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) and i'm half way through The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Anne Bronte). I've noted down all the weather references in every text.

During this time the weather station that is sited at the Bronte Parsonage Museum has been collecting data.

So, for the drawings i've tried to cross reference the two - finding a specific text written by one of the Brontes and tried to match it up with a date from this past few months.

Their letters are dated and refer to recent weather so they were easier to match, but there are some fictional references in the novels that i've been able to find similar days in October and November last year. Get it?

So the image above shows:

"Folds of scarlet drapery shut in my view to the right hand; to the left were the clear panes of glass, protecting, but not separating me from the drear November day. At intervals, while turning over the leaves in my book, I studied the aspect of that wintery afternoon. Afar, it offered a pale blank of mist and cloud; near, a scene of wet lawn and storm-beat shrub, with ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly before a long and lamentable blast."

Chapter 1 in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Looking through the records from the weather station i found that Saturday 26th November was a pretty "drear November day", with heavy rain in the afternoon and gusty wind and clouds etc. So my drawing shows 12 hours from midnight on 26.11.11

I have to say that concentrating for hours at a time focusing on graph paper has made my eyesight go completely to pieces. I suppose that now i'm in my mid 30's it's just something i'll have to get used to? I can feel an eye test coming on.

Wiley, Windy Moors

2012-01-10T10:14:00.002Z

The bleakly beautiful moorland landscape around Haworth obviously had a great influence on the Brontes and their writing.

The BBC nature website describes moorland as: "upland areas with acidic, low-nutrient and often water-logged soils. In their cold windy and wet conditions colourful heather plants dominate, growing on the deep peaty layers... Some 10 - 15% of the world's moorland is found in the UK, mainly in the north and west of the country."

I wanted to ask questions about moorland and the weather and how climate change is effecting the landscape around Haworth. So, i did a little research and decided to contact Professor Joseph Holden, the Chair of Physical Geography at the University of Leeds. I wondered how and when it was discovered that a change in the climate is effecting moorland; what are these changes and why does it matter; how important are moorlands to a diverse ecosystem and how is the research conducted.

Professor Holden replied the other day with lots of information:

As to your questions - the weather is one of the very reasons the moors exist at all. The wet, cool conditions allows peat and other organic soils to develop - this weather stops plants from fully decaying and so the peat builds up over time - thereby storing carbon - and thereby cooling global temperatures by taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Changes in climate therefore impact the moors through time - and if you take a core of peat you can look back through time at what vegetation was growing and how the moors were different in the past related to different climate conditions. We have known this for a long time - I'm not sure of the first reference to it - but I have read manuscripts from 1757 for example that point out that peat isn't just the slime left after Noah's flood (which was one of the thoughts from centuries ago) because it actively grows/builds over time and can be measured to grow.

Moorlands could react to climate change in many different ways - some places may become drier or warmer and that would cause peat to decompose and be lost (ie shrink away or erode)

Moorlands are really important ecosystems for the whole of society - maybe you can watch some of our short films to find out why and also understand how we do research:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ1LfnAJVWQ&feature=BFa&list=UU0TSfia70DSF8xCXPPV8G4g&lf=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xli6Z2tEPqI&list=UU0TSfia70DSF8xCXPPV8G4g&index=1&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMDgoQNIjZA&feature=BFa&list=UU0TSfia70DSF8xCXPPV8G4g&lf=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KduOlzABanI&feature=BFa&list=UU0TSfia70DSF8xCXPPV8G4g&lf=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKo3IPYBAII&feature=BFa&list=UU0TSfia70DSF8xCXPPV8G4g&lf=plcp

Best wishes, Joseph

Professor Joseph Holden

Chair of Physical Geography, Director of Research, Head of water@leeds

I'll keep looking at documents and websites with information about moorlands, habitat management and changes due to climate change - so if you know of anything i should look at please leave a comment with details - thanks!

Above and Beyond

2012-01-05T11:31:00.001Z

I received an email from one of my weather collectors the other day.

The weather station sited at the Bronte Parsonage Museum collects data every half hour, but I also wanted to collect personal responses to the weather around Haworth too - pure data won't tell me how the weather is making people feel or how it is affecting daily routines etc. This is where my weather collectors come into the project. 10 local volunteers kindly put themselves forward to collect information every day for a year (as much as possible).

The email from Richard made me really happy - he's not only collecting the data and filling in the postcards designed for the project, but he's put together an Excel spreadsheet with all the data plus temperature and rainfall graphs too. This will all really help the little archive of information i'm gathering - it'll give a glimpse of what a few people thought of the weather in a certain location at a certain time in history. Might this information be interesting to someone in the future?

I hope so.

The images above are of the work that Richard has done and emailed over to me - thanks!

Wuthering Heights Film

2012-01-03T13:05:00.001Z

I went to see the Wuthering Heights film last night. It's taken a while to get to see it as it wasn't showing in any cinemas around here - so we went to Manchester to see it at the Cornerhouse.

Directed by Andrea Arnold and with cinematography by Robbie Ryan i thought it was an amazing, brutal, beautiful, other worldly, abstract adaptation of the novel by Emily Bronte. I loved all the bird songs and calls and the sounds of the wind and storms - the blurring images of rushes and apples and rain and the bleakly beautiful moorland.

The change of actors from the younger Cathy and Heathcliff to older ones didn't sit too comfortably with me as the length of time would not have changed them that much. But that is my only criticism.

To make up for the fact that the film doesn't include the second generation of the families - with Heathcliff being haunted by the dead Cathy please watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF0VaBxb27w

Its Wuthering Heights by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and it's really fab!

The image is of Top Withins taken with a pinhole polaroid camera on a trip there in 2008.

Jane Eyre II

2011-12-29T14:06:00.000Z

"I sought the orchard, driven to its shelter by the wind, which all day had blown strong and full from the south, without, however, bringing a speck of rain. Instead of subsiding as night drew on, it seemed to augment its rush and deepen its roar: the trees blew steadfastly one way, never writhing round, and scarcely tossing back their boughs once in an hour: so continuous was the strain bending their branchy heads northward - the clouds drifted from pole to pole, fast following, mass on mass: no glimpse of the blue sky had been visible that July day.

It was not without a certain wild pleasure I ran before the wind, delivering my trouble of mind to the measureless air-torrent thundering through space."

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

(first published in 1847)

I've finished reading Jane Eyre (again) and found lots of beautiful references to the weather throughout the book. I enjoyed it more than the first time i read it - maybe looking for weather descriptions helped. I'm going to write them all out and then see if i can match any days (roughly) with any of the days i'm recording throughout this year with the weather station sited at the Bronte Parsonage Museum... we'll see.

Since finishing the book i've started and am half way through The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. It's a delightful book and pretty funny too - get a copy if you can and try to learn your clouds.

By the way, under no circumstances is anyone allowed to comment on the state of my desk in the background of the image above. It's a work in progress and i know where everything is.

Anne Bronte's letters

2011-12-21T09:52:00.001Z

"Charlotte is well, and mediates writing to you. Happily for all parties the east wind no longer prevails - during its continuance she complained of its influence as usual. I too suffered from it, in some degree, as i always do, more or less; but this time, it brought me no reinforcement of colds and coughs which is what I dread the most. Emily considers it a dry uninteresting wind, but it does not affect her nervous system."

Letter from Anne Bronte to Ellen Nussey, October 4th 1847

I was at the Bronte Parsonage Museum library again yesterday to look at the original letters that i've found have references to the weather in. To see one written by Anne Bronte was a treat - and as you can see from the images she crossed each of the two pages with her writing to make the most of the paper's small size. It creates a beautiful squared pattern, but it's incredibly difficult to read too.

Haworth Primary School

2011-12-16T13:13:00.000Z

I'm delighted that as well as the individuals who are collecting weather descriptions for me daily, the local primary school in Haworth have also joined the project and are doing daily weather records too. They have won lots of awards for their vegetable plots at the school, so it might be interesting to see how the weather can effect the crops in the coming year.

Here is the school blog:

http://y4haworthprimary2011.wordpress.com/bronte-weather-project/

It's snowing here in Preston today, by the way.

Temperature Max Min

2011-12-06T11:33:00.001Z

The weather station that is sited at the Bronte Parsonage Museum collects masses of data every half hour for me for the next year. But, i also wanted to be able to collect personal comments and notes on the weather around Haworth. To do this I recruited 10 volunteers that were given a small kit comprising a thermometer and specially designed cards to note the weather everyday for the whole year too.

It took me ages to decide which thermometer to buy for everyone. I wanted a max and min bit on it - but most of the traditional thermometers have to be re-set manually everyday - so if it's sited outside you have to go out in all weathers to check it and re-set it. I wasn't sure if that would be convenient for everyone and i was worried i was asking a lot during bad weather etc... So in the end i settled on digital thermometers that can be attached to the outside of a window facing inwards - so you can check it in the comfort of your own house. It said they had a max / min setting too - all sorted!

However, i got this email the other day from one of the weather collectors:

Hi Rebecca

I’m starting to get into the swing of daily temperature readings...but find that I am unsure about the timing. I notice that the maximum & minimum readings are updated at 08.00 & 20.00 respectively. My poor brain is having difficulty working out the best time to take readings for each day! Just before 08.00 they are the minimum for the previous night and the maximum for the previous day. Between 08.00 & 20.00 they are the same minimum for the previous night but the maximum reading has reset and is meaningless, as it is just the temperature at the time of reading (assuming it gets hotter during the day). Just before 20.00 they are still the same minimum (unless it’s been even colder during the day!) but the maximum for that actual day. After 20.00 the minimum reading has reset and so becomes meaningless for that day, just recording the temperature at the time of reading. It seems to me that just before 20.00 is the only time that gives the actual temperatures for the previous 24 hours. Oh for a good old mercury max-min thermometer!

Does it matter? Perhaps I am being too pernickety!.. though it would obviously be more consistent if everyone does the same thing, otherwise some will be recording the actual day, some the previous day and some not really the daily max or min at all.

Sorry if that’s confusing. Let me know what you think.

Regards

Hmmmm - I didn't want everyone to get confused or bothered about taking readings every day. But i can see that the timings of the max / min are confusing. I've decided to leave it up to each individual to work it out and to write down what they are comfortable with. The temperature readings are only a part of my request of the volunteers and it's their descriptions that i'm most interested in - 10 different viewpoints of any one day throughout this year.
The posh weather station will fill in the gaps with all the technical data - hopefully.

Jane Eyre

2011-12-01T15:13:00.000Z

"On Midsummer-eve, Adele, weary with gathering wild strawberries in Hay Lane half the day, had gone to bed with the sun. I watched her drop asleep, and when i left her, I sought the garden.

It was now the sweetest hour of the twenty-four: 'day its fervid fires had wasted', and dew fell cool on panting plain and scorched summit. Where the sun had gone down in simple state - pure of the pomp of clouds - spread a solemn purple, burning with the light of red jewel and furnace flame at one point, on one hill-peak, and extending high and wide, soft and still softer, over half heaven. The east had its own charm of fine, deep blue, and its own modest gem, a rising and solitary star: soon it would boast the moon; but she was yet beneath the horizon."

I'm half way through my second reading of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It was during the first reading of the novel (and almost especially reading the chapter that the passage above is from) that I decided I should propose the Weather Project back in 2008.

Published in 1847 under Charlotte's pseudonym Currer Bell it was an instant success. I have to say that when i first read it i wasn't that keen - it's a bit prim and deeply loaded with morality for me. But now i'm reading it again i'm really enjoying it. Maybe reading lots of Charlotte's personal letters at the same time has helped me get a more rounded view of her personality which in turn has helped me see more in the novel.

Data Collecting

2011-11-29T14:25:00.000Z

What a berk. I went all the way to the Bronte Parsonage Museum to collect the weather station data on to my little netbook, but i forgot to take the vital cable that connects between the netbook and the data logger on the console. You know - one of those cables with a little thingy on one end and a bigger thingy on the other. Vital to the whole operation.

So, i had to go to the Museum again especially: a train to Hebden Bridge and then a bus ride over the moors to Haworth. As it goes it was a great trip and i spent an extra 3 hours in the Museum library reading through more letters to find references to the weather.

Now i've successfully collected 6 weeks of weather data I'm going to start drawings based on all the numbers and graphs produced.

Charlotte Bronte's Letters

2011-11-25T11:51:00.000Z

I am in a very lucky position in that I can request to see any letters in the Bronte Parsonage Museum archive that I think are relevant to the Weather Project.

So, after reading through the Selected Letters of Charlotte Bronte I went on Tuesday to see a couple of the original letters that reference the weather.

I got to see and handle original letters! What a privilege - to see the letters so closely, to touch them (with gloves on of course) was absolutely amazing. I was really quite nervous: i wasn't allowed to have pens or pencils on me, plus i was scared i might want to sneeze or cough perhaps (which you'll be pleased to know i didn't).

Charlotte Bronte's writing isn't the easiest to read - it's fluid and spidery and all the ink is faded and shows through onto the other side of the fragile paper. I loved looking at them and i have to thank the Museum for giving me access.

If proof were needed that I have the best job in the world, this was it.

Weather Diaries

2011-11-23T14:41:00.003Z

Yesterday I went to Cliffe Castle in Keighley to look at the original weather diaries written by Abraham Shackleton of Braithwaite near Haworth. He kept records from 1801 until the end of 1857. Some of the records cover the time that the Bronte family were living in Haworth, so it's been fascinating to see the weather conditions at the time. The diaries aren't on permanent display in the Museum so we had to arrange to see them especially, which made the trip even more exciting.

The books are beautifully hand written with daily records and then month summaries with one book showing yearly averages and comments. He notes rainfall (with rain days), wind strength and direction, barometer measurements and temperature.

Most of the pages are self explanatory, but I can't quite figure all the records out - which units of measurement he was using. He often didn't have a column heading, so it might take some time to work it out.

Visually they are like codes that need cracking - secret messages or puzzles.

I loved going to the Museum and seeing the weather diaries in the flesh and being able to touch and read through them (i had to wear gloves obviously).

See blog entry below too.

Cliffe Castle

Mr Shackleton

2011-11-21T15:34:00.002Z

In the Babbage Report of 1850 written by Benjamin Herschel Babbage (see blog post below) there are some references to the meteorology of Haworth:

"Meteorology: No register of the direction of the wind is kept at or near Haworth, but judging from the general prevalence of south-westerly winds in this part of the country, the prevailing winds at Haworth would probably be found to come from that quarter.

Mr Shackleton of Braithwaite, near Keighley, which is about four miles from Haworth, was kind enough to furnish me with the following extract from his register of the rainfall:-

In 1840 31.16 inches

In 1841 36.21 inches

In 1842 28.02 inches

In 1843 35.90 inches

In 1844 21.17 inches

In 1845 31.23 inches

In 1846 32.44 inches

In 1847 32.27 inches

In 1848 40.38 inches

In 1849 31.66 inches

Average of the above ten years 32.7 inches"

One thing of note looking at the rainfall - how wet it was in 1848 (40.38 inches) which was the year that both Branwell and Emily died of consumption (tuberculosis).

Babbage Report, Haworth, 1850

2011-11-17T14:48:00.001Z

Looking at the letters of Charlotte Bronte and seeing how the weather could affect health (see blog post below) it led me to read the Babbage Report of 1850.

Written by Benjamin Herschel Babbage it was a "Report to the General Board of Health, on a Preliminary Inquiry into the Sewage, Drainage, and Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Conditions of the inhabitants of Haworth..."

The report was undertaken after the inhabitants of Haworth signed a petition to the General Board of Health to direct a Superintending Inspector to visit the town and conduct an inquiry.

Some of the points of the report are shocking:

"the mortality per thousand, it will be observed that it ranges from 19 in the thousand to 30.6, which the latter is a rate of mortality only to be met with in very unhealthy places."

" The average age at death in this hamlet is very low; it will be seen... that it ranges from 19.6 years to 30.8 years, and that, taking the whole 12 years the average age at death is 25.8, which is about the same as in Whitechapel, St.George-in-the-East, and St.Luke, three of the most unhealthy of the London districts"

"It will be seen that the infantile mortality is very great, since 41.6 per cent of the population die before attaining the age of six years"

Babbage reports on the manufactures and trades of the town, sanitary conditions and water supply as well as the highways and burial grounds.

"I found 24 houses lower down in the main street, with only one privy amongst them"

"There are no sewers in Haworth; a few covered drains have been made in some of the streets to carry away the surface water, as for instance, in the upper part of the main street and down Back-Lane, but generally the drainage runs along in open channels and gutters. As a necessary consequence of the want of sewerage there is contiguous to each privy a recepticle for the night soil, in some cases walled round, in other cases fenced in with upright stones on edge; into these midden-steads are thrown the household refuse and the offal from the slaughter-houses, where mixed with the night soil, and occasionally the drainage from pigsties, the whole lies for months together, decomposition goes on and offensive smells and putrid gasses are given out. These midden-steads are uncovered, and the majority of them are nearly full when i examined them. Bad as they are, their situation, in close proximity to dwelling-houses, makes them much more injurous."

The seasons weather conditions are mentioned with connection to the water supply:

"It was stated to me... that about 150 houses are dependant for their supply of water upon the Head well, and that the supply from it is so scanty in the summer time, that in order to have water for the Monday's washing, the poor people are in the habit of going there at 2 or 3 o'clock on Monday morning, in order to wait for their turn, to fill their cans and buckets from the slowly running stream. It was also stated that the water of this well is very bad at this season, and that it is sometimes so green and putrid, that cattle which have been driven there to drink, after tasting the water, have turned away and refused to touch it again."

" the existing drains open into the fields at several points immediately below the main street, and the drainage is led in open ditches to irrigate these fields. Complaints were made that some of this drainage water got into a watercourse, which supplied some detached houses at Mill Hill with water. I should conclude that this use of the drainage matters in immediate vicinity to the houses, would in warm weather prove prejudicial to the health of the persons living in the neighbourhood."

Babbage makes recommendations and suggests remedial measures to address (amongst other things) the bad drainage and water supplies to Haworth. I haven't found when the recommendations were carried out - but having visited Haworth recently I can assure anyone who hasn't been to Haworth that the work has been done.

Here is the report - it's a great read:

Babbage Report

Letters

2011-11-15T11:18:00.002Z

I've finished reading the selected collection of Charlotte's letters (a total of 169 letters).

They have revealed a fascinating insight in to Charlotte's life and i've really enjoyed reading them while finding references to the weather.

There are a few references amongst the letters with the majority connecting weather conditions with health and death:

"Dear Ellen

Emily suffers no more either from pain or weakness now. She never will suffer more in this world - she is gone after a hard, short conflict. She died on Tuesday, the very day i wrote to you. I thought it very possible then she might be with us still for weeks and a few hours afterwards she was in Eternity - Yes - there is no Emily in Time or on Earth now - yesterday, we put her poor, wasted mortal frame quietly under the Church pavement. We are very calm at present, why should we be otherwise? - the anguish of seeing her suffer is over - the spectacle of the pains of Death is gone by - the funeral day is past - we feel she is at peace - no need now to tremble for the hard frost and keen wind - Emily does not feel them."

Letter to Ellen Nussey dated 23rd December 1848

"Anne was worse during the warm weather we had about a week ago - she grew weaker and both the pain in her side and her cough were worse - strange to say since it is colder, she has appeared rather to revive than sink. I still hope that if she gets over May she may last a long time"

Letter to Ellen Nussey, c. 12 and 14th May 1849

The weather conditions could have a huge impact on health, and guarding against the wet and damp could become a matter of life and death.

On the 24th September 1848 Branwell died of tuberculosis. He was 31. Three months later, on the 19th December, Emily too died of tuberculosis at the age of 30. Two weeks later Anne was diagnosed as having contracted the same disease and she died on 28th May 1849.

Cloud Appreciation Society

2011-11-08T15:52:00.001Z

I joined the Cloud Appreciation Society the other day and i received my certificate of membership through the post. I am member number 28238.

There is a manifesto of the society - which can be found on their website.

The society believes that "clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them" and they "pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it".

I have a badge that i will wear with pride!

http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

I have to say that my appreciation has been properly tested today with the blanket of dank that has smothered Preston all day...

Rainbows

2011-11-05T12:01:00.001Z

I while ago, before the official start of this project, I pondered that i hadn't seen many rainbows in the last couple of years.

But, with the start of this project and maybe because i'm watching the weather with more interest, i seem to have seen quite a few and happened to have my camera with me. Rainbows never cease to amaze me with their fleeting beauty.

I've since found a great website explaining all the different types of rainbow and other atmospheric optics - you must take a look:

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/

Melancholy

2011-11-02T11:19:00.000Z

"It is a Stormy evening and the wind is uttering a continual moaning sound that makes me feel very melancholy - At such times, in such moods as these Ellen it is my nature to seek repose in some calm, tranquil idea and I have now summoned up your image to give me rest There you sit, upright and still in your black dress and white scarf - your pale, marble-like face - looking so serene and kind - just like reality - I wish you would speak to me -."

Charlotte Bronte

Letter to Ellen Nussey dated October 1836

I'm reading through letters by Charlotte Bronte and have found this weather reference in a letter held in the Huntington Library, San Marino in California. I've had a quick look to see if they have a copy on their web database, but it's not looking like it's online. I can feel an essential research trip coming on...*

*Only kidding

Weather Data

2011-10-28T12:14:00.000+01:00

While I'm not at the Parsonage the console in the Museum continues to collect the data transmitted from the weather station outside and i then download it all onto my netbook when i visit.

I was nervous the first time - wondering if the datalogger was actually collecting and storing the data or whether I'd got it wrong and nothing was being stored and all information was lost.

But, to my relief it all worked like a dream. And i now have the first two weeks of weather data to look through.

Bronte Parsonage Museum Library

2011-10-26T12:30:00.000+01:00

I met with Ann Dinsdale (Collections Manager at the Bronte Parsonage Museum) this week. We met in the library in the museum - a wonderful room with cases full of books and documents - and we chatted about the Brontes and where I might start to investigate their writings on the weather.

She mentioned that letters from Charlotte Bronte to Ellen Nussey would probably reveal many references to the weather - so I've come away with a copy of Selected Letters by Charlotte Bronte - edited by Margaret Smith and published by Oxford University Press - as a starting point.* I can then see if the Museum holds the original letters and arrange to view them.

*There were many letters written by Charlotte Bronte: Margaret Smith has edited a massive three volume The Letters of Charlotte Bronte - which the museum has copies of, but as they are so big and I'm not allowed to take them off site, I'm happy to start with the Selected Letters.

Weather Collectors

2011-10-24T14:32:00.002+01:00

I was at the Parsonage Museum last week to meet the local weather collectors who have kindly volunteered to gather weather data every day for the next year.

We had tea and cake in the chapel opposite the Parsonage and I gave out 8 weather kits (not everyone could make it to the meeting so i have another 4 kits to give out over the next few days). Each kit has a digital thermometer and record cards - please see blog entries below too.

We then visited my weather station at the back of the museum. Between us we will gather a range of data - from technical readings to personal observations for each day.

It was a lovely day and it was good to meet everyone involved in the project.

(the image above shows me explaining the technicalities of the weather station through the medium of mime)

Weather Station Installed

2011-10-12T19:31:00.001+01:00

We put the weather station up yesterday and it works!

My day started at 5.45 getting up to arrive at the Parsonage Museum before 9am and although the instructions for putting the weather station together mentioned 10 minutes to install it I took until about 10am to figure it out how to get it out of the box and assemble the bits - and it took until after 2pm to get it up and running properly (although that did include a quick trip to the local hardware shop for bits and bobs). It's a beautiful thing with spinning cups to measure the wind speed and an arrow shaped direction indicator, positioned on a galvanised pole and tripod. It is solar powered and transmits the data to a console in the Museum.

In the instruction booklet it said it shouldn't be placed near sources of heat such as chimneys, heaters, air conditioners and exhaust vents and should be at least 30m away from asphalt or concrete roadways. We should avoid putting it near fences or sides of buildings. It should be ideally 1.5m and 2.1m above the ground which should be well drained. It should be away from sprinkler systems and not near bodies of water such as swimming pools or ponds. It shouldn't be under a tree canopy. It can't be anywhere near power cables or you could be in danger of death. It has to be level, plus the console that receives the data has to be within 300m of the weather station...

With all this in mind we've sited it at the back of the Museum and you can see it from one of the windows.

Thanks to Rob for helping install it.

Wuthering Heights

2011-10-04T11:26:00.002+01:00

"Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr Heathcliff's dwelling. 'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by the range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun."

Emily Bronte

I have finished reading Wuthering Heights written by Emily Bronte in 1845 / 46 and published at the end of 1847. I loved the book all over again: i read it in 2008 to inspire me to think of ideas for this residency, but hadn't thought of looking at weather on the first read - so i had to go through it again looking for references to weather.

At the very beginning of the novel it's the weather that forces Mr Lockwood to have to stay at Wuthering Heights kick starting his whole enquiry in to the story surrounding his landlord Heathcliff:

"The business of eating being concluded, and no one uttering a word of sociable conversation, I approached the window to examine the weather.

A sorrowful sight i saw; dark night coming down prematurely, and sky and hills mingled in one bitter whirl of wind and suffocating snow."

There's plenty more references (as you can see from the image of my copy) and i'm going to spend time writing them out and re-reading them.

Weather Kits

2011-09-22T14:35:00.000+01:00

The weather kits are now ready to give out. Each has weather record cards to fill in, a pen and pencil and a digital window thermometer.

Everyone who answered the advert calling for participants are now on the list for receiving a kit and they can all start to collect data for the project. As it goes i'll not get over to Haworth to hand them out for a couple of weeks - and at the same time i'll install the weather station - so it'll be early October that the project properly gets underway.

Record Cards

2011-09-21T11:55:00.000+01:00

My weather record cards are back from the printers and they look great.

Part of the Bronte Weather Project involves members of the local community around Haworth being weather data collectors for me. I'm asking people to record the temperature every day for a year, plus I want everyone to write down their daily observations or particular weather notes.

It's a lot to ask: to keep a weather diary for me for a whole year, but i already have 10 willing participants - the ideal amount of people i was looking for. All the record cards for the year will go into a small archive to be held at the Parsonage Museum when the project is over.

So the little kit that each person will receive is nearly ready to hand out and weather data collecting can begin.

Plans

2011-08-25T11:32:00.000+01:00

I've been over to Haworth twice this week to continue to get ready for the start of the residency.

I was there on Sunday with Mark Ward - he used to work in Haworth as an official tour guide, so i was treated to a day of information and stories as we walked through the hills. The heather is flowering at the moment: a brilliant purple, vibrant in the sunshine.

I also went over on Tuesday so we could work out the best place to site the weather station and the practicalities involved with installation etc.

Me and Jenna then went to Thornton to meet with David Knowles, the Programme Manager at South Square Gallery, as it's hoped we can collaborate together during the project in some way.

While there we also took a look at the house where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born in the village.

The start of the residency is getting closer...

http://www.southsquarecentre.co.uk

Setting of Ideas

2011-08-10T15:28:00.001+01:00

The more I thought about the weather in the Haworth area in connection to the Brontes, the more i knew the idea could be developed into a project.

The weather in the Pennines has shaped the landscape – it can be harsh, brutal, beautiful, and vital. The weather is responsible for the positioning of settlements, of farming methods, of forming unique habitats and influencing wildlife; it can supply drinking water and wind energy; it directly affects our daily routines, our moods, and inspires our ideas and thoughts.

My idea: I would like to set up a weather station at the Bronte Parsonage Museum and spend time collecting weather data: rainfall, wind speed, cloud cover, air pressure, air quality, sunshine hours, sky trails across the sky etc. By reading all the Bronte texts (novels, poems, letters by Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Branwell and Patrick) it would be interesting to cross-reference the similarities and differences with present day weather readings.

I proposed this idea to Jenna at the museum - and this is where the project started.*

During the whole of 2009 I decided to take temperature readings every day and write a brief description of the weather where i was living in Preston. The images above show the note books i collected the data in.

*Although the idea was set in 2008, it's taken until now, summer 2011, to get the funding together to start the project. I can't tell you how chuffed i am that we're starting this project, especially after such a long time thinking about it...

The Weather

2011-08-09T13:02:00.001+01:00

To help me think of an idea I chose Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte as the first Bronte text to read.

It was a good one to start with - it is so gripping and utterly passionate. At the time of reading the novel (in early 2008) i still wasn't sure of what i might think of as a project, so when i finished it i went straight on to read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

It was during this time that i started to think about how, when both Emily and Charlotte referred to the weather, they must have been using their own experiences of being in Haworth with its constantly changing weather conditions. It was here that the idea of looking at the weather and comparing it with the writings of the Brontes (Emily, Charlotte, Anne, Patrick and Branwell) came into my head.

Ideas Brewing

2011-08-08T17:17:00.000+01:00

After the first visit to The Bronte Parsonage Museum I went for another trip the same month (Feb 2008) for a weekend walking in the surrounding hills.

It was a cold, crisp weekend with clear blue skies on both days. The light on the moorlands was stark but rich and beautiful. The icicles on the water in the streams sparkled and glistened in the sunshine and the heavy frost coated all the vegetation.

This time spent in the landscape helped me start to think about ideas...

In The Beginning

2011-08-04T16:57:00.000+01:00

This project started 3 years ago...

Jenna Holmes, the Arts Officer at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, asked if I'd like to visit the site and perhaps we could think of an idea and work together.

So, in February 2008 I went for my first visit to the museum and surrounding area to meet with Jenna and to start discussions towards this project.

It's been a long time since that first meeting, but with some patience and determination we have finally been able to get started. It took me a while to come up with an idea, plus raising funding for the project took until now.

This blog will run for the whole project describing what inspired the idea and residency and will report on the writings of the Brontes and any references they made to the weather.