THE bicentenary of the birth of Charlotte Bronte was marked at Casterton, Sedbergh Preparatory School with a series of celebratory activities involving pupils and parents.

Headmaster Scott Carnochan said: “The Bronte sisters are an important part of the heritage of the school and a number of historic artefacts are now kept safe at Kendal Record Office.

"This birthday provided us with a tremendous opportunity for us to celebrate the legacy of the Brontes. As a school, we invest a great deal of energy into the arts and literature, developing a love of reading and writing, and we regularly welcome popular children’s authors into the school to work with the children.”

Charlotte Bronte attended a school for clergymen’s daughters in nearby Cowan Bridge in 1824, and the school moved to the current site in Casterton in 1832. In 2013, following a merger with Casterton School, Sedbergh School moved its preparatory school to the site.

Extracts of the Bronte family school bill from the 1830s show that their fees cost £14 for board and entrance for the year. It cost a further £3 if they wished their daughters to do Art, French, Music. At the time, £14 was the annual salary of a teacher at the school.

The Bronte Society and Bronte Parsonage Museum at Haworth will be working with the school on future workshops. Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21 1816 and was the eldest of the siblings to reach adulthood but the last to die. She wrote Jane Eyre, Shirley and Vilette, and died on March 31 1855, aged 38.