Situated between Ingleton and Kirkby Lonsdale on the main A65 which runs along the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park from Skipton to Kendal in Cumbria, Cowan Bridge is a small village most famous for its association with the Bronte Sisters - Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emily having attended the Clergy Daughters' School there in 1824. The regime and conditions there were reported to be harsh, and it is believed that the school was portrayed as Lowood in Charlotte Bronte's novel "Jane Eyre".
In 1825 illnesses forced the school to move to the coast, and the Bronte girls returned home to Haworth in the heart of what is now known as West Yorkshire's Bronte Country. Maria and Elizabeth died shortly after, though of course Charlotte and Emily (along with their sister Anne) reached adulthood and became world famous for their novels (including "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre").
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