Brontë village bats named Charlotte, Emily and Anne

The replica Brontë house bat box was installed in the roof of the South Square Arts centre in Thornton near Bradford

Three bats found near the Brontës' birthplace have been named after the sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne.

The pipistrelles were discovered in the roof of the Grade II listed South Square Centre in Thornton, near Bradford, during the arts centre's restoration in 2020, close to where the three literary sisters were born.

Now the bats have a replica of the Brontës' birthplace as a bat box.

"It was never going to be 'just a box'," the arts centre said.

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When the pipistrelles - the most common and widespread of British bat species - were found during restoration, ecologists advised a bat box be installed to ensure their safety and survival.

The arts centre asked heritage assistant Chloe Moreton to design the box - a replica of the Brontës' birthplace on Market Street in Thornton, a few minutes walk from the Grade II listed arts centre on South Square.

Chloe Moreton with the bat box in front of the Brontë sisters' birthplace on Market Street in Thornton

Ms Morton, whose family are from the village, said she was "really proud".

"South Square Centre does great work for its local community and has had successful outreach through lockdown supporting the village's elderly and vulnerable," she said.

Charlotte Brontë was born at the house on Market Street in Thornton in 1816. Her sister Emily was born there in 1818 and Anne was born there in 1820.

They moved to Haworth Parsonage in 1820 when their father became the curate, and Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre there. Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, and Anne wrote Agnes Grey in 1847 and the Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1848.

Yvonne Carmichael is director of the arts centre, a collection of 19th Century Grade II workers' cottages in Thornton, five miles (8km) from Bradford.

She said: "We do a lot of work around the Brontë family, so it was only right that we named our bats after the three remarkable sisters."

The Brontë bat box will be visible from South Square Centre garden when it reopens with socially-distanced exhibitions on 4 June