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The Highest House in Wathendale Find!

The Highest House in Wathendale is a story by Harriet Martineau.

Harriet Martineau was one of the most emininet women writers of her day. As well as being a writer she was a philosopher, a sociologist, and political economist, noted for her feminist and abolitionist views. She lived in The Lake District from 1845 having built herself a house at Ambleside, called The Knoll, where she lived until her death in 1876.

Harriet was born in Norwich in 1802, the daughter of a textile manufacturer. She did not enjoy the best of health and by her teens her hearing was so poor that she was forced to use an ear trumpet.

When her father died the family was financially stretched so Harriet had to support herself. The usual career options of teacher or governess were not open to her because of her hearing, so she started to write in earnest. She made her name with a twenty-five volume series of writings about political economy.

In a writing career that spanned 40 years, she wrote regularly for a newspaper on social and political issues, and produced three books of observations arising from her foreign travels. She also wrote two novels, which, although they did not enjoy quite the same success as her other work, did make an impact upon later Victorian fiction. She also wrote history, biography, and household manuals.

She has been called one of the founders of sociology, making several published contributions to what was then an emerging field of study and her work also analysed the conditions shaping the lives of Victorian women, making important contributions to the develoment of feminism in Victorian times. All in all a truly fascinating and awe inspiring woman

So what of The Highest House in Wathendale?

The story was published in July 1851 in Household Words, a journal edited by Charles Dickens.

Harriet Martineau had started to write pieces for Household Words in1850, when Dickens first invited her to contribute. She didn't normally write for magazines as, to quote her own words: "that kind of work does not, in my opinion, suit me well...but the wide circulation of Household Words made it a peculiar case". She continued to write regularly for the title up until 1855.

If anything, The Highest House in Wathendale can best be described as "didactic fiction". It takes as its theme the evil of drink - the perils of alcolholism, and, the results of its mistreatment.

The story opens with the marriage of Janet, a farmer's daughter, to Raven, a carpenter.

All seems well until after the ceremony, when Raven has to be carried back to the farm by his new bride and the bridesmaid as he is much the worse for drink. As the story unforlds, it is obvious that Raven has a serious problem with alcohol which gets worse over time.

Janet is the only child of Mr and Mrs Fell of Wathendale, farming land that has been in the family for over 500 years. Mr Fell is getting old and frail so Raven takes over the running of the farm. Over the years Janet's parents die, and because of Raven's alcoholism the farm goes to rack and ruin. Even their eldest child suffers at his father's hand and sustains a tragic and terrible brain injury because of Raven's drunkenness.

Janet does not have an easy life, and even though there is a temporary respite when Raven takes the pledge, sobriety does not last, leading to a very sad and tragic end to the story.

This story is clearly writen from the heart showing and reflecting Harriet Martineau's great love for the Lake District and its people.

To write it she drew upon personal experiences, and, as with many other examples of her work, it chronicles the life, economy, society, and physical terrain of the English Lake District during the mid-Victorian era.

It is fantastic social document which opens the readers eyes to the fact that The Lake District at that time was an area of great beauty but life was hard, and the people suffered the same social evils and ills as their city-dwelling contemporaries.

The Highest House in Wathendale can be found in collection of Harriet Martineau's writings called: An Independent Woman's Lake District Writings, compiled, edited and introduced by Michael R. Hill. The collection includes A Year in Ambleside,  a charming book of months written for American readers; The English Lake District,  a travel guide which vividly describes the hills, lakes, inns, and paths of the area; and Our Farm of Two Acres, in which Martineau shows that running a small farm offers profitable employment for a single woman, as well as justifying her own farming methods.

To find out more about Harriet Martineau see: http://fp.armitt.plus.com/harriet_martineau.htm

The Armitt Gallery, Museum & Library in Ambleside has in its collection a number of Harriet Martineau's possessions and personal belongings as well as the sketchbooks of T L Aspland who illustrated her Complete Guide to the English Lakes.

As for The Knoll, Harriet's Ambleside home, it is now a holiday cottage which can be let by tourists...I can't help but think that maybe she would have been pleased to think that her house would be attracting people to come and enjoy her beloved Lake District today?

5 October 2009 from Helen

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