HAWORTH Moor's literary influences took centre stage in a BBC radio programme broadcast.

Presenter Mariella Frostrup was joined by an author and a university professor for a ramble up to Top Withens for BBC Radio Four's half-hour long Open Book programme.

The trio discussed the sense of freedom the moors provided for the Bronte sisters, and how these authors personified the wild landscape in some of their own literary characters.

John Bowen, a professor of 19th century literature, who took part in the programme, said Haworth Moor during the Bronte's time would have seemed relatively untouched by the modern world, despite being on the edge of a village that was being rapidly changed by the Industrial Revolution.

Mrs Frostrup joked that the Bronte Society plaque at Top Withens, which explains that this building has no resemblance to the Earnshaw Home in the novel Wuthering Heights, could qualify as a winner of the "grumpiest plaque award".