" If Fieldhead had few other merits as a building, it might at least be termed picturesque: its irregular architecture, and the grey and mossy colouring communicated by time, gave it a just claim to this epithet. The old latticed windows, the stone porch, the walls, the roof, the chimney-stacks, were rich in crayon touches and sepia lights and shades. The trees behind were fine, bold, and spreading; the cedar on the lawn in front was grand, and the granite urns on the garden wall, the fretted arch of the gateway, were, for an artist, as the very desire of the eye."

Charlotte Bronte; Shirley (1849)

 

 

 

Oakwell Hall was built in 1583, today it recreates the period in the 1690s when it was home to the Batt family who were Royalists.

Charlotte Bronte visited in the 1830's and featured it as "Fieldhead" in her Novel "Shirley".


"she and her uncle walked up the broad, paved approach leading from the gateway of Fieldhead to its porch. She followed Mr. Helstone reluctantly through that porch into the sombre old vestibule beyond."

Charlotte Bronte; Shirley (1849)

 

 

 

Oakwell Hall
Nutter Lane,
Birstall,
Batley,
WF17 9LG
Tel: 01924 326240
Opening times:
Monday to Friday: 11am - 5pm
Saturday & Sunday: 12pm - 5pm

N53° 44.389 W001° 40.310
Elevation 404ft