Manor house with Charlotte Bronte links for sale

A 17th Century manor house with links to the Brontë sisters has gone up for sale for more than £1m.

West Riddlesden Hall in Keighley was built in 1687 for Thomas Leach in the same style as sister house East Riddlesden Hall, which is now a National Trust attraction.

The Grade I-listed property still has the original oak panels in the reception hall and was home to many of the town's most prominent families over the years.

Current owner John Pennington is selling to downsize and said the house was full of history and mysterious stories - including the existence of a secret passageway.

Pennington, a businessman who was once an auctioneer for Bradford Wool Sales and later restored the city's Midland Hotel in the 1990s, said that Thomas Leach's descendants owned Strong Close Mill, which became Dalton Mills, in Keighley.

"I'll pull the curtains back first thing in the morning and you're looking out on to wonderful gardens, so it's a great start to the day," he said.

"Each of the halls has a tower, quite an impressive tower with a large rose wool window in it and the only difference between my house and East Riddlesden is I have a flagpole on top of mine."

The Leaches' association with the manor lasted for 175 years before they sold it in 1809 to the Greenwoods, who were also in the textiles trade.

The mill-owning Sidgwick family lived at the hall in the mid-19th Century, and Charlotte Bronte was a governess for their children. John Benson Sidgwick is widely claimed to have been the inspiration for Mr Rochester in her novel Jane Eyre.

Later owners included the Duxburys, who founded Magnet Joinery.

"The house was lived in and owned by the Reverend Oliver Haywood and he used it as a Quaker meeting house in the day when the Quakers were persecuted," said Pennington.

"I've heard so many stories about there being a priest hole and a passageway between East Riddlesden and West Riddlesden, but have never ever been able to find it."

When Pennington bought the hall more than 20 years ago his first offer fell through, but the seller came back to renegotiate.

"I did so without telling my wife because she was so disappointed the first time," said Pennington.

"So we were sat in the Nawab restaurant in Bradford one night and I said to her, 'Out of all the houses you've looked at across Yorkshire if you could have any of them which would you have' and she said 'I'll have West Riddlesden Hall.'

"I said 'well here you are' and I gave her some keys and she said to me 'What are those?' I said 'Well, we've bought West Riddlesden Hall.' "

Pennington said despite the extensive work needed to maintain the house and gardens, he would be sorry to leave it.

"It's idyllic and it's got everything you could wish for and you're out of the way so nobody can find you. It's peace and tranquility."

Estate agent Dan Grimshaw said it was one of the region's "most impressive period homes".

He said: "It's a lovely house to show people around because it's a very interesting property. There's so much history with it and so many little quirks.

"A property viewing usually takes in a large house at best an hour, whereas with this one I was there yesterday for just over two hours with one person going through everything."

The property, which includes 1.3 acres of grounds with a one-acre paddock, is listed for £1,150,000 and has a 60m driveway and gated courtyard.

According to agents Holroyd's, half of the property was pulled down in the 1920s and a future owner would have the option of rebuilding the missing section.

"There's certainly been lots of interest about the house and lots of people that didn't know it even existed.

"We've even had people ringing up the office to tell us that we've made a mistake and it should be East Riddlesden Hall."

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