The home where the Bront sisters spent the first chapter of their lives has been put on the market.

The humble property at 72-74 Market Street, Thornton, where Charlotte and her famous literary sisters Emily and Anne were born and spent their formative years, is up for sale at £250,000.

The Rev Patrick Bront and his wife, Maria, moved to the modest house in 1815 and lived there for five years. Charlotte was born there in 1816, followed by brother Branwell a year later, Emily in 1818 and Anne in 1820. The grade two listed house, built in 1802, has changed hands many times and was used as a restaurant for three years.

Writers Bernard Mayston and his friend, Barbara Whitehead, describe the house they bought in 1997 as the "Bethlehem of the Bront world".

They set about restoring many of the original features, such as the stone-flagged floors, and opened it up to Bront enthusiasts from the across the world.

Now with retirement in mind they are looking for buyers who will maintain it as a piece of living history.

Barbara said: "We want to find a suitable group of people, perhaps a charity or an individual, who will carry on what we have done here.

"It is an important part of the Bront world and we have had people from 17 countries, including places like Russia, visiting the house.

"It's not very well known because people tend to think of the parsonage and because it used to be a private house that wasn't open to the public, but the people who have visited have been fascinated."

A price tag of £175,000 has also been put on Brookroyd House, the house in Birstall where Charlotte put the finishing touches to her most famous novel, Jane Eyre.

The four-bedroom house was the home of Charlotte's friend, Ellen Nussey, and it was the place where she honed the proofs to Jane Eyre in 1847.

The Bront Society says that although the homes do have historical significance, it has ruled out making an offer on them.

Haworth's Bront Parsonage Museum manager Alan Bentley said: "It's just not a practical exercise buying up properties like these because it's such a long time since they had Bront connections.

"The parsonage has been in the hands of the Bront Society since 1928, but the houses have been in private hands and original details will have been obliterated, although Bernard and Barbara have done a very good job highlighting what's left at Thornton."