Ferndean Manor
Another of Mr Rochester's homes, a small property within a wooded area. He moves here aftrer the fire at Thornfield.
The building
Inspirations
It is believed that the now ruined Wycoller Hall was the inspiration for Ferndean. It is about 6 miles (10 kilometres) from the Brontë's home and was visited by the sisters. It has a similar remote wooded location to Ferndean.
Location
In the novel, Ferndean is noted as 30 miles (48 kilometres) away from Thornfield:
Chapter 36. "At Ferndean, a manor-house on a farm he has, about thirty miles off: quite a desolate spot."
If we assume that Thornfield is Rydings Hall (see the Thornfield page), it turns out that the distance from there to Wycoller is actually 26 miles (42 kilometres) which supports the idea that Charlotte used both the building and its location as Ferndean.
The characters
There are no new characters in the Ferndean section of the novel. Mr Rochester's only servants there are John and Mary who came with him from Thornfield.
Fancy a map of the locations in Jane Eyre? There is an excellent printed map available from Literary Maps. Click here to visit.
