INDELIBLY linked with the Bronte legend, this was Far or Top Withens, near Stanbury, while still an identifiable ruin.

Although a typical moorland farmstead bearing no resemblance to the building described by Emily Bronte, its striking location as "a sentinel over the whole of the Worth Valley" earned it a reputation as a possible setting for Wuthering Heights.

Farms at Far, Middle and Lower Withens occupied the moorlands acquired by Keighley Corporation during the building of the Sladen Valley Waterworks completed in 1925. Situated as they were on reservoir gathering-grounds, they were allowed to fall into decay.

By 1930 the waterworks engineer reported that they were in a dilapidated and dangerous state. Lower and Middle Withens were promptly demolished. The Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings proffered advice on the restoration of Top Withens, but weather and wilful damage had put it beyond repair. Keighley Corporation simply walled up its doors and windows.

"Tramps have thus lost a night's shelter while on their way over Walshaw Dean to Halifax," observed one contemporary. Swallows were noticed circling the premises, unable to return to their nests in the rafters.

This photograph was taken at a later date when some of the sealed doors and windows had been broken in. Top Withens is now a much reduced but stabilised ruin, a place of pilgrimage for Bronte enthusiasts.