The family dining table where the Bronte sisters wrote some of their classic novels has been saved for the nation.

A grant of more than £580,000 has secured the table where the family gathered to write and share ideas, and where books such as Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Emily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall were written.

The table, which bears the marks of use including ink blots, a large candle burn and a small "E" carved on to its surface, was sold after the death of their father Patrick in 1861, remaining in the same family ever since.

Without the grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), it would have been sold at public auction but thanks to the money it has now been secured by the Bronte Society.

The table will go on display at the Brontes' former home, Haworth Parsonage.

Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Bronte Parsonage, said: "We are extremely proud and excited to be bringing the Brontes' table back to its original home.

"It is one of the most important literary artefacts of the 19th century and displaying it in the Parsonage dining room marks a wonderful commencement to our programme of activity marking the forthcoming bicentenaries of the births of the Bronte siblings."