The imposing building that stands at the top of Main Street has a relatively recent history. The present church was built in 1879 but it stands on a site that is thought to have accommodated a church since at least 1137 and possibly earlier. A later church was built in 1488 and some of this building remains in the lower part of the church tower.

When William Grimshaw was appointed parson in 1742 he brought with him a new evangelical style of preaching which was to revolutionise churchgoing in the area. In pre-industrialised times the area’s population was mostly made up of farmers and handloom weavers scattered across the hills and valleys in small hamlets and isolated farmhouses. Finding poor attendance at the regular church services Grimshaw rode across the region to preach passionate outdoor sermons that attracted the attention of the communities he met. The largely illiterate crowds found a connection with the rousing hymn singing and fervent prayers and in a short space of time Grimshaw was conducting 30-40 services a week as far afield as Pateley Bridge and Colne. Influenced by connections with the early Methodists he organised meetings into a circuit known as the Great Haworth Round. Many of his converts eventually became Methodists or Baptists and were responsible for establishing a wave of new chapels and Sunday schools across the region. The parish church could not accommodate the burgeoning congregation and by 1756 Grimshaw had raised enough funds to extend the church. Typical of churches of the time it contained high sided box pews, an imposing organ and three tiered pulpit. The addition of first floor galleries to add extra seating must have made the church very dark and cramped.

This was how Patrick Brontë found the church when he was appointed parson in 1820. Brontë was also an Evangelical and it is likely that it was Grimshaw’s influence that brought the Brontë family to Haworth. He came to the village from Thornton with his wife and six children and they moved into the Parsonage which had been built by his predecessor. He was an Anglican minister at a time when non-conformists such as Methodists and Baptists formed the majority in the village, but he took his pastoral duties for the whole community very seriously, campaigning against the injustice of the Poor laws and for improvements in sanitation which was causing widespread disease in the village.

Brontë was succeeded by Rev Wade who in 1879 had all but the clocktower of the old church demolished and rebuilt as it is today. There was protest at the time from early Brontë enthusiasts but within the village there had been support for the scheme, especially as the old church had become very cluttered and there was a problem with the drainage from the churchyard underneath the church.

Inside the church you will find a stained glass window dedicated ‘To the Glory of God in pleasant memory of Charlotte Brontë by an American citizen’ and a plaque on a pillar indicating the position of the Brontë family vault.