From the BBC: Bronte's ‘secret staircase found’.
Posted on December 7, 2004 07:55 AM. Filed under: books & lit.A secret staircase has been found in a house thought to have inspired classic novel Jane Eyre - just as author Charlotte Bronte described it.
In Jane Eyre, the hero Mr Rochester keeps his mad first wife in a hidden attic up a secret stairway.
The owners of Norton Conyers in North Yorkshire always believed their house near Ripon may have inspired the writer.
But the staircase had been hidden since the 1880s and its current residents only found it after clearing the attic.
Sir James and Lady Graham, whose family have lived in Norton Conyers since 1624, say the book's Thornfield Hall was based on their house. [continue]