Anne Bronte death location, Scarborough

Wood's Lodging house where Anne died is now eclipsed by The Grand Hotel. It was demolished 13 years after Anne's death and construction of the hotel started the year after. It's good to see there's a blue plaque reaching back to her demise though she probably would have died in Haworth had Anne, Charlotte and Ellen visited Scarborough earlier: they'd put off the visit waiting for bad weather and Anne's tuberculosis to retreat. The weather did but the disease didn't and they arrived here at St Nicholas Square with Anne looking almost skeletal. With every other sibling gone before her Charlotte must have known the shadow of death was fast eclipsing her baby sister. She noted Anne had withered thinner than Emily prior to her death. This semblance of a holiday must have been as grim as you can get.

Anne had back rooms with views of the sea - a lounge and a bedroom. Bad news - the bedroom was up a flight of stairs and Anne couldn't ascend them without help (for weeks she'd hardly been able to mount the stairs at the parsonage.) On the Saturday they went down to the beach and Anne rode in a donkey carriage. So the donkey didn't run fast she took the reins from the driver and even offered him some advice on how to treat the animal in future. On the Sunday evening she was wheeled to the window to watch a wondrous sunset lighting the castle and ships on the horizon. The next day, Monday, she was too weak to descend the stairs for breakfast and clashed with Charlotte who said she shouldn't move. However Ellen carried Anne down the stairs saying it was a positive thing to do. Near the bottom of the stairs she staggered and had to drop Anne into a nearby chair, her head lolling and arms poker-straight.

Later that morning they summoned a doctor and asked if they set off now would they reach home before Anne expired. She was grateful for his honesty when he said the end was imminent. Calm and expectant Anne died that Monday afternoon. She died claiming she was happy and with her eyes open. As Charlotte closed them the Wood's 2pm dinner bell rang. Charlotte set about arranging the burial in two days time and waited until the following day before relaying the news to her dad hoping he wouldn't travel 70 miles to attend.

I've stayed in this hotel lots of times and love the squeaky floorboards and creaky doors (and veggie meals.) The German navy tried bombing the place in the First World War and hit it about 30 times. The RAF used it two train people as World War Two started and there were anti-aircraft guns in the corner cupolas on the roof (wonder if they;'re still there.) Oddly in SAS have used it for training following the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege.

The Grand Hotel is built on the site where she died...