Mystery of Jane Eyre attic solved

[emad]

Martin Wainwright
Saturday December 4, 2004
The Guardian

A cramped secret staircase winding up to a lonely garret has been rediscovered in the manor house which is credited with launching the literary genre of the "madwoman in the attic".

Carpeted with dust, cobwebs and a solitary collar stud, 13 rotting steps lead into a gable end where the 18th century original of Mrs Rochester - the tragic enigma at the heart of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre - was allegedly confined.

The discovery is a gift to the reviving fortunes of Norton Conyers, a 16th century squire's home whose modest tourist trade benefits from the Brontë connection. The house, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, spent 20 years on the national register of historic buildings at risk before restoration started in 1986.

The staircase, found when floorboards were lifted in an attic, fills in a missing piece of Brontë's careful description of "Thornfield Hall", where Mr Rochester lived with the governess Jane Eyre and - hidden away on the top floor - his "mad" first wife.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1366203,00.html

[boi1946]

1. Thanks for posting this...

probably would have never seen it on my own. "Jane Eyre" is one of the books I have read, and then re-read every few years since I was a teen-ager. It never grows old for me.

[hlthe2b]

2. Wow... I didn't know Jane Eyre was based on fact...

in any way...Although i suppose I should not be surprised. Long History of locking away the mentally troubled, and all...

[212demop]

3. Brilliant! Thanks for posting this.

Ever read the Jean Rhys novel Wide Sargasso Sea?

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Pic of Norton Conyers

NORTON CONYERS, in the parish of Wath, wapentake and liberty of Allertonshire; 3 miles N. of Ripon. This was once the seat of the family of the Nortons; of whom Richard Norton was Chief Justice of England, about the year 1400: from him descended Richard Norton, who, with his sons, in 1569, engaged in the religious rebellion of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, against Queen Elizabeth, which was soon suppressed. Mr. Norton, and his sons, with many others, were executed, and the estate given to the Musgraves.


http://www.shopsinripon.co.uk/nortonconyers.html

[aka-chmeee]

5. Musgraves!?

Where was the sun?
Over the Oak!
Where was the Shadow?
Under the elm!............