Charlotte Bronte and Arthur Bell Nicholl's Honeymoon, 1854.

Back from honeymoon and time for Charlotte to admire her beautiful wedding day bonnet before storing it carefully away in the parsonage. After 34 days away the newlyweds probably wearily climbed the stairs of the                          parsonage to the bedroom they would only get to share for the next 8 months. Charlotte and Arthur were back in Haworth on 1st August 1854. But there was no rest for a busy Charlotte and Arthur. As Charlotte wrote in a letter to Ellen Nussey on 9th August 1854: "Since I came home I have not had an unemployed moment; my life is changed indeed - to be continually wanted - to be continually called for and occupied seems so strange: yet it is a marvellously good thing...As far as my experience of matrimony goes - I think it tends to draw you out of, and away from yourself." She also wrote the following in a letter to Margaret Wooler on 19th September 1854: " My own life is more occupied than it used to be.: I have not so much time for thinkin

Homeward bound leaving Ireland.  We know that on Thursday 27th July 1854 Charlotte and Arthur were in Cork as Charlotte wrote to Catherine Winkworth, a friend of Elizabeth Gaskell whom she had met at Gaskell's Manchester home. We also know that the newlyweds expected to be back in Haworth on Tuesday 1st August 1854 as Charlotte wrote to Martha Brown at the Parsonage to alert her to their arrival home on that date. Dear Martha, I write a line to tell you that if all be well, we shall be home on Tuesday August 1st at about seven o'clock in the evening. I feel very anxious about Papa, the idea of his illness has followed me all through my journey and made me miserable sometimes when otherwise I should have been happy enough. I longed to come home a fortnight since, though perhaps it would not have done much good and I am sure you would have done your best for him. Have things ready for tea on Tuesday Evening and you had better have a little cold meat or ham as well as we shall pro

The next leg of Charlotte and Arthur's honeymoon odyssey.  Charlotte and Arthur decided that the time was now right to return home to Haworth as Charlotte had heard that her dear Papa was unwell. She wrote to her good friend Ellen Nussey on 28th July 1854 from Dublin saying: "I have been longing, longing intensely sometimes, to be at home. Indeed, I could enjoy and rest no more, and so home we're going." Their next port of call was Bandon. This was where they would be able to catch a steam train to Dublin as can be seen from the advertisement below. Click on the photo to better view.                                                            So, Charlotte and Arthur left Glengarriff and travelled by horse and carriage to Bandon where they would collect the train. Their route took them along the beautiful road that hugs Bantry Bay. Travelling in their footsteps, we too set off on the same route. When we got to Bantry town we stopped to look back across the bay to Glen

Having travelled the extremely scenic route from Killarney, via Kenmare our honeymoon couple, Charlotte Bronte and Arthur Bell Nicholls, finally arrived in Glegarriff which means 'the rough glen' and is around 3 miles long and a quarter of a mile in breadth. We do not know for sure if they stayed in Glengarriff or if they just passed through. However, it is highly likely that they stopped off to appreciate the scenery of the location, set alongside Bantry Bay and cradled by the mountains. Their hotel of choice may have been the Glengarriff Inn which is now known as The Eccles Hotel, however, there is no evidence to confirm this is the case. The Glengarriff Inn not long after Charlotte's and Arthur's 1854 visit to the village. The Glengarriff Inn is now known as The Eccles Hotel. The central section was added and extended upwards after our couple's visit to Glengarriff. Here is the elegant central extension. The hotel has been in existence since 1745.  The Glengarrif