Wethersfield, Essex with Patrick Bronte.

Cambridge to Wethersfield is not far.

Having spent a day and a night, in July 2018, enjoying the delights of Cambridge, my Bronte travelling friend Alison and I next headed further east to Wethersfield in Essex to where Patrick had his first incumbency as a curate following his graduation in 1806 from Cambridge university. He had spent four years in Cambridge from 1802 to 1806. For us, it was only a 45-minute drive to cover the 28 miles / 45 kilometres to Wethersfield and we noted how agricultural the area was passing through pretty Finchingfield which Patrick probably would have done.

 

The area is very agricultural. A different landscape to the one that Patrick ended up in when he arrived in Haworth, West Yorkshire.

Pretty Finchingfield in Essex. No millstone gritstone cottages here as in Haworth.

Wethersfield is about 8 miles / 13 kilometres from Braintree and many of the redbrick and half-timbered buildings which Patrick would have seen are still standing, along with the village green and the church where he worked in a parish of about 1,200 or so inhabitants, 70% of whom worked locally in agriculture during Patrick’s time there from 1806 to 1809.

The village green in Wethersfield.

Wethersfield.

 

Patrick's first incumbency at St Mary Magdalene Church in Wethersfield. When we visited the tower was being repaired.

St Mary Magdalene Church without the scaffolding.

Built from the pretty flint stone typical of the area. 

Times of services.

We stood outside St George’s House opposite the church of St Mary Magdalene, and where Patrick had lodgings with spinster Miss Mildred Day.

St. George's House  (the peach coloured one) where Patrick lodged with spinster Miss Mildred Day.

 And of course, we visited his first church  and, oh joy of joys, it was open so we could get inside. There was nothing for it, but I had to walk exactly in Patrick’s footsteps all the way up to and into the pulpit!!!  I hope it was the same pulpit from his time there!

The altar at St Mary Magdalene Church, Wethersfield.

Very much in Patrick Bronte's footsteps! But is it the same pulpit? Apparently the church fell into disrepair in the 19th century and stood derelict for some years before being greatly renovated in the 1870s.

                                                     

Patrick’s landlady was often visited by her pretty 18-year-old niece, Mary Burder and, despite the age difference, (Patrick was 30), Mary and Patrick got on rather well and would walk out together and write letters to each other. Parishioners would lend Patrick their dogs to walk as he enjoyed the footpaths around the village with these canine companions and no, doubt Mary would join him too. 

 As Mary’s father had died and she had not yet come of age, her guardian was her uncle, and he noticed the friendship and, of course, wanted to know more about the prospects of this Irish curate. There are indications that Patrick proposed to Mary but later broke off the engagement, possibly because she was a Non-conformist, and he might have thought this could damage his future prospects of promotion within the Church of England.  But, whatever happened between them, Patrick eventually left Wethersfield in 1809 to take up his second incumbency in Wellington near Telford, Shropshire.

 However, 15 years later in Haworth and, after his wife, poor Maria Brontë had died leaving Patrick with 6 children (some commentators have postulated Maria may have died of uterine cancer and others from ovarian cancer...but this, obviously, cannot be confirmed), Patrick was then on the look out for a new wife and a mother for his children.

 He learnt that Mary Burder from Wethersfield was still single and wrote to her expressing his pleasure that she was still a spinster. She replied very curtly to say NO! Whatever had happened in 1809 had deeply embittered Mary and she would not entertain marrying Patrick. He was rejected outright!

On our visit to Wethersfield, I could imagine Patrick striding out along the many footpaths in the area enjoying this gentle, rural and agricultural location. It's a lot flatter in Wethersfield than in Haworth with its steep hills and valleys, where Patrick would later go on to walk whilst out visiting his parishioners. If you are ever in the area, Essex and Wethersfield are well worth a visit.