Haworth’s Brontë Parsonage Museum has received a coveted status.

It has been awarded full accreditation by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

The award recognises that the museum has achieved defined national standards relating to governance, visitor services and collections management.

The Parsonage houses the world’s largest collection of Brontë material, including letters, manuscripts, furniture, clothing, personal artefacts andworks of art. There are more than 7,000 items.

Museum director Andrew McCarthy said: “We are delighted to have been granted full accreditation.

“The Brontës are, of course, intimately associated with Haworth and Yorkshire but the parsonage museum has a collection which is nationally and internationally important and we should all celebrate that fact.

“The collection has continued to grow in recent years and through our education and arts programmes we’ve offered all kinds of exciting new ways for visitors to experience the museum and find out about the Brontës.”

Next month the museum will close for a major refurbishment, which will see the installation of a new exhibition focusing on the Brontës’ lives.

It will include many new acquisitions to the collection and fun inter-active attractions for families.