A secret staircase leading to a spooky attic room has been discovered at an historic country house which was the inspiration for Charlotte Bront?’s novel Jane Eyre.

　　Bront? is said to have based her tale of the insane Bertha Mason imprisoned in an attic room at Thornfield Hall on a true story she heard during a visit in 1839 to Norton Conyers, near Ripon.

　　Every year 2,000 visitors, many of them Bront? fans, flock to the late medieval mansion which was once home to Richard Norton, Henry IV’s Lord Chief Justice.

　　But it is only now that the owners have uncovered a hidden staircase which links the first floor directly to the attic, just as the novelist describes.

　　Sir James and Lady Graham, whose family have lived there since 1624, found the staircase after tapping on wooden panelling and hearing a hollow sound. "We decided to investigate," Sir James, 64, said. "There is a servants' staircase to the attic, but it's in a different part of the house. Bront?’s description of Thornfield relates closely to our main staircase and its first floor landing."

　　The Peacock Room at Norton Conyers is thought to have been the inspiration for Mr Rochester's bedroom. Close by, she located the secret stairs he used as a shortcut to visit his mad wife.

　　Today the landing is panelled, but when the Grahams tapped on the wood near where the novel puts the steps, they heard a hollow sound. They lifted floorboards in the attic above and discovered the top of a narrow flight of 13 steps.

　　"We were hoping to find the Norton Conyers' treasure," Lady Graham joked.

　　"That's another family story about a hoard of gold and jewels supposed hidden during the Civil War. But all we found was lots of woodworm, some old nails and a collar stud.”

　　At the bottom of the steps was a door, fitted with an ingenious spring to ensure it always closed after use. Light filtering through a gap showed it was behind the panels near the Peacock Room. "The stairs are only just wide enough for one person," Sir James said.

　　"They are hidden within the thickness of the panelled wall, there is no way you could tell there was anything behind it. The door at the bottom would have been visible originally, certainly at the time Charlotte Bront? visited, but it was covered when the landing was panelled, we believe in the 1880s. This discovery proves that the old tradition was correct."