Cowan Bridge is a village in the English county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. It is south-east of the town of

Kirkby Lonsdale Kirkby Lonsdale () is a town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, on the River Lune. Historically in Westmorland, it lies south-east of Kendal on the A65. The parish recorded a population of 1,771 in the 2001 ...

where the main A65 road crosses the

Leck Beck Leck Beck is a watercourse in Lancashire with its source on Crag Hill in Cumbria between Leck Fell and Casterton Fell. For several kilometres near the start of its course, the water flows into the Ease Gill Cave System, part of The Three Cou ...

. It forms part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Burrow-with-Burrow Burrow-with-Burrow is a civil parish in the English county of Lancashire. The parish of Burrow-with-Burrow had a population of 191 recorded in the 2001 census, decreasing to 182 at the 2011 Census. It is on the River Lune south of the Cumbri ...

Clergy Daughters' School

Cowan Bridge was the site of the Clergy Daughters' School attended by

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

and

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

, the notable 19th-century writers, and their older sisters

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

and

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

, who died after experiencing harsh privations at the school. There is a plaque commemorating this association on the former school building, which partially survives. The churchyard of St Peter's Church, Leck, has graves of several of the children who died at the school. Charlotte described the abuses, the typhus epidemic in which seven pupils died, the scandal which followed, and subsequent reform of the school in ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

''. The character of Helen Burns is based closely on Maria. Reverend Brocklehurst is a portrait of

William Carus Wilson William Carus Wilson (7 July 1791 – 30 December 1859) was an English churchman and the founder and editor of the long-lived monthly '' The Children's Friend''. He was the inspiration for Mr Brocklehurst, the autocratic head of Lowood School, dep ...

, who managed the school in the Brontës' time. Women readers who had attended the school confirmed Charlotte's account. In a letter to her publisher W.S. Williams, Charlotte describes overhearing an elderly clergyman talk about reading ''Jane Eyre'' and saying "Why, they have got Cowan Bridge School, and Mr. Wilson here, I declare! and Miss Evans." She says, "He had known them all. I wondered whether he would recognise the portraits, and was gratified to find that he did, and that, moreover, he pronounced them faithful and just. He said, too, that Mr. Wilson 'deserved the chastisement he had got.'" The Clergy Daughters' School still exists. It was moved to Casterton shortly after the scandal. In 1840 another typhus epidemic struck 70 of the pupils, claiming the lives of three. By 1857

Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale LL.D. (21 March 1831 – 9 November 1906) was a suffragist, educational reformer and author. As Principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College, she became the founder of St Hilda's College, Oxford. Early and family life Dorothea Beale ...

was teaching there. It was apparent to her that while some of the physical circumstances had improved since Charlotte's time, the spiritual aspects had not changed. When the '' Life of Charlotte Brontë'' by

Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...

came out, Beale began to write her own unfavorable impressions of the religious education handed out there.Entries on Dorothea Beale and on the Clergy Daughters' School in ''A Brontë Encyclopedia'' by Robert and Louise Barnard. .

References

External links

Photos of the original Clergy Daughters' School building
taken 3 May 1985. * Villages in Lancashire Geography of the City of Lancaster {{Lancashire-geo-stub