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The Master Fell Walker
Although he was known to be a very private, shy and elusive person, he was involved in three very popular BBC2 television series and was the author of over fifty guidebooks and volumes of drawings, the most famous being his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, being an illustrated account of a study and exploration of the mountains in the English Lake District, which he compiled between 1952 and 1966 and for this labour of love, as he called it, he was awarded the MBE. The seven Pictorial Guides list 214 fells in and around the Lake District, and which a lot of people aspire to climb, ticking them off as each one is climbed or “bagged”. Bagging these fells is commonly referred to as "doing the Wainwright's”. Alfred Wainwright was born on 17th January 1907 in Blackburn, Lancashire, the son of a stonemason, and brought up in poor circumstances. Aged 13, he left school to start work, and eventually 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. He then began composing his pen and ink drawings of
the fells and on the evening of November 9th 1952, he penned the first page, the
ascent of Dove Crag from Ambleside, of what was to become his Pictorial Guides
to the Lakeland Fells. He was also a great animal lover. He was especially fond of cats, and later in life became chairman of Animal Rescue, Cumbria, and due to book royalties he contributed to the charity, a permanent shelter has been established near Kendal in Cumbria. Alfred Wainwright died on 20th January 1991 aged 84. There is a stone tablet set into the windowsill of a south window of St James Church, Buttermere, in Cumbria, as a memorial to AW. The window looks out on his favourite place to walk, Haystacks, and where at his wish his ashes were scattered alongside Innominate Tarn. The small picturesque Church of St James is situated above the village of Buttermere at the junction of Honister and Newlands passes. The following excerpt was taken from an introduction that AW had written for his last book, and which was found still in his typewriter shortly after his death: “I am the last person qualified to preach to
others, but I offer to readers three injunctions for their future visits to
Lakeland where I hope they will find the pleasures I found: to avoid accidents
and always to watch where you are putting your feet; to be kind to animals and
respect their dignity; and, third, to stop griping and to count your blessings
every night at the close of every day.
Alfred Wainwright
St James Church, Buttermere, showing the Wainwright Memorial (click on the photo to view a larger image)
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Alfred
Wainwright is a legend to anyone remotely interested in walking, especially fell
walking in and around the English Lake District, which is situated in the North
West of England, U.K.
In 1941 he was appointed to a position in the Borough Treasurers Office in
Kendal.
