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Home > Alfred Wainwright


 

Alfred Wainwright ( 1907 - 1991) was best known for his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. These handwritten and hand-drawn works of art have given inspiration and guidance to fellwalkers for the last forty years. Most of his books of drawings were originally published by The Westmorland Gazette, in Kendal. Michael Joseph subsequently published his books for many years. When they ceased publication in 2003 [1], publishers Frances Lincoln took over the publishing of the Pictorial Guides [2].

In the Pictorial Guides, Wainwright described 214 fells in the Lake District. They are often known as Wainwrights and reaching the top of all of them is a popular activity among many Lakeland fell-walkers. (See List of Wainwrights). Wainwright's favourite peak in the Lake District was Haystacks , above Buttermere, and this is where his ashes were scattered after his death.

He wrote Pennine Way Companion in 1968, a guide to the Pennine Way which unusually starts at the back and you have to read backwards (because it's a south-to-north walk).

He wrote several other books; Fellwanderer (1967) , The Outlying Fells of Lakeland (1973), Walks in the Howgills(1972), Walks in Limestone Country(1970), Lakeland Sketchbooks(1975) and more.

In 1972 Wainwright designed 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 leaving Cumbria and wandering through the Westmorland Plateau and Vale of Mowbray, Keld , Reeth , Richmond, Ingleby Cross to the North York Moors National Park. Clay Bank , Glaisdale . The C2C, as it is abbreviated, reaches its end at Robin Hood's Bay on the east coast of England. The walk is 190 miles in length.

The Wainwright Society was inaugurated in 2002, with the aim of keeping alive the things he promoted through his books.

External links

Wainwright, Alfred Wainwright, Alfred

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