Roe Head

Roe Head is a house built in the mid-18th century, with later additions from the late 18th to early 19th century and the 20th century. It features coursed squared stone and a stone slate roof. The original structure is three storeys high and consists of two blocks with five bays each. A two-storey, two-bay block was added to the north side, and a two-storey, four-bay block was added at right angles to the southeast, creating a canted two-storey porch in the angle formed. There are further 20th-century additions to the north that are not of special interest.

The west front shows the original block on the right, which has paired bows with plinth, cill, and eaves bands, along with three-light windows that have stone surrounds and 20th-century casements and sashes with glazing bars. The ground floor left window is deeper and features a central door. The roof is hipped on the right, with corniced stacks at the left end and the centre of the ridge. The two-bay addition on the left has quoins on the left side, with a narrow left-hand bay containing sashes with glazing bars in stone surrounds, complete with tiestones and a projecting cill. The right-hand bay is bowed and has cill bands with five-light windows featuring sashes with glazing bars and tiestones, along with an eaves band and lateral stacks.

On the right return, the original block has raised quoins on the left, with sashes that have glazing bars, which are shorter on the second floor, all set in stone surrounds with projecting cills and an eaves band. There is a central corniced ridge stack. The later porch has central double doors within a projecting corniced surround, flanked by 12-pane sashes, with cill bands and tiestones above. The wing has similar windows, three on the ground floor and two above, and its south gable features a bow with five-light windows.

Inside, there is an open central staircase. The dining room retains an 18th-century fireplace adorned with swags, acanthus scrolls, and egg and dart mouldings, along with dado panelling and an egg and dart ceiling cornice. Between 1830 and 1837, the house was rented out as Roe Heath School, which was attended by the Brontë sisters: Charlotte from 1831 to 1832, who returned to teach there in 1835; Emily briefly in 1835; and Anne after the school moved to Dewsbury Moor, from 1836 to 1837.