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HISTORY & HERITAGE
More about Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright (1907-1991) will always be known for his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. These handwritten and hand-drawn works of art have given inspiration to all true fellwalkers for the past fourty years. All his books of drawings (apart from 'Walks from Ratty' which was published by the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway) were published by The Westmorland Gazette, in Kendal. Many are now out of print, but the remainder are now published by Michael Joseph.
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright was born in Blackburn, the son of a stonemason, and brought up in poor circumstances. Aged 13, he left school to start work, and became an office boy in Blackburn Borough Engineer's Department. When he was 23, he managed a holiday away from home, and went to the Lake District for a week. He often came back to walk the hills, having passed exams and become a municipal accountant.
In 1941 he was appointed to a position in the Borough Treasurers Office in Kendal. He started doing pen and ink drawing of the fells. He started exploring and drawing and made a start on what was to become his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. There is a recreation in the Kendal Museum of Natural History of Wainwright's office.
In 1972 Wainwright devised the Coast to Coast Walk, which traversed what he described as 'the grandest territory in the north of England'. The walk starts at St Bees, travelling through Cleator, Ennerdale, Rosthwaite, Patterdale, Shap, Kirkby Stephen, then out of Cumbria, through the North York Moors National Park, heading towards Robin Hood's Bay on the East Coast.
Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells
Book 1: The Eastern Fells 1955
Book 2: The Far Eastern Fells 1957
Book 3: The Central Fells 1958
Book 4: The Southern Fells 1960
Book 5: The Northern Fells 1962
Book 6: The North Western Fells 1964
Book 7: The Western Fells 1966
Others
Fellwanderer 1966
Pennine Way Companion 1968
Walks in Limestone Country 1970
Walks on the Howgill Fells 1972
A Coast to Coast Walk 1973
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland 1974
Westmorland Heritage 1974
Kendal in the 19th Century 1977
Walks from Ratty 1978
Three Westmorland Rivers 1979
Sketchbooks
A Lakeland Sketchbook 1969
A Second Lakeland Sketchbook 1970
A Third Lakeland Sketchbook 1971
A Fourth Lakeland Sketchbook 1972
A Fifth Lakeland Sketchbook 1973
A Dales Sketchbook 1976
A Second Dales Sketchbook 1978
A Furness Sketchbook 1978
A Second Furness Sketchbook 1979
A Lune Sketchbook 1980
A Ribble Sketchbook 1980
An Eden Sketchbook 1980
Lakeland Mountain Drawings
Volume One 1980
Volume Two 1981
Volume Three 1982
Volume Four 1983
Volume Five 1984
Wainwright in Lakeland, published by The Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal in 1983, is a summary of all of AW's work to this date with samples from each of the books. It also contains a large illustrated map of Westmorland. These coffee table books illustrated with photographs are published by Michael Joseph:
Books with Photographs
Fellwalking with Wainwright 1984 with Derry Brabbs
Wainwright on the Pennine Way 1985 with Derry Brabbs
Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk 1987 with Derry Brabbs
Wainwright in the Lakeland Mountain Passes 1989 with Derry Brabbs
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales 1991 with Ed Gelgard
Wainwright's Favourite Lakeland Mountains 1991 with Derry Brabbs
Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland 1992 with Derry Brabbs
In addition to these he has published books on Welsh and Scottish Mountains, The Peak District, and Bowland. He supplied drawings for Richard Adams' book 'The Plague Dogs'. There is a stone tablet set into the windowsill of a south window of St James Church, Buttermere, as a memorial to AW. The window looks out on his favourite place to walk, Haystacks, where at his wish his ashes were scattered.
Hunter Davies has written the book 'Wainwright the Biography' in which he reveals a far more complex man - passionate, witty and generous - than any reader of his guides might suspect. Several broadcast quality videos with AW and Eric Robson have been produced by Striding Edge, a video company based in the Wasdale valley.
Videos from Striding Edge
The Essential Wainwright 65 mins
The Wainwright Memorial Walk 105 mins
Wainwright's Lakeland 58 mins
Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk 113 mins
Links to other sites
The Wainwright Society
Ann Bowker - Wainwright's Lakeland Fells
Philip Powell - Around the Wainwrights
The Wainwright Memorial Walk
Reproduced courtesy of The Wainwright Society |
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