Alfred Wainwright in the Lake District, Cumbria. Circa 1970.
Photo by Homer Sykes

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 Frances Lincoln.

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, up to Nine Standards Rigg, 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 Special Edition Boxed Set - all 7 guides 2003 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.

And also -
Memoirs of a Fellwanderer
A Pennine Journey: The Story of a Long Walk in 1938
Pennine Journey
Walkers Log Book 1
Walkers Log Book 2
Wainwright Maps of the Lakeland Fells: Eastern Fells
Wainwright Maps of the Lakeland Fells: Far Eastern Fells
Wainwright Maps of the Lakeland Fells: The Central Fells
Wainwright Maps of the Lakeland Fells: The Southern Fells
Wainwright Maps of the Lakeland Fells: The Northern Fells
Wainwright Maps of the Lakeland Fells: North Western Fells
Wainwright Maps of the Lakeland Fells: Western Fells

Wainwright: The Biography - Hunter Davies
After Wainwright - Eric Robson
A Companion to Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells (Wainwright Pictorial Guides)
- Joan Newsome (Editor)

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 Wainwright DVDs

Alfred Wainwright in the Lake District, Cumbria. Circa 1970.
Path leading up from Grasmere. Photo by Homer Sykes

Some fourty years ago, the young photographer Homer Sykes was sent on a commission by the Telegraph to photograph Alfred Wainwright for their weekend colour magazine. A few years earlier he had finished his legendary guidebooks, and had become a cult figure in the North of England. Homer handed over his transparencies, and forgot about them.

A few years ago, Homer Sykes was in Keswick taking photographs of the Blencathra fell pack for a new book, called 'Hunting with Hounds', and saw the great Wainwright industry that had built up. He then attempted to find his old photos of AW, and eventually found five, which you can see on his website, www.homersykes.com, and from where you can buy high quality prints.

Related Links :

• The Wainwright Society
• Wikipedia - Alfred Wainwright
• Ann Bowker - Wainwright's Lakeland Fells
• Sean McMahon - Wainwright's Lakeland Fells
• Various sites relating to the Coast to Coast Walk
• Frances Lincoln Publishers who now have the rights to the complete works of A. Wainwright.
• Daily Telegraph 1 Nov 2007 - Podcast lets you walk with Alfred Wainwright
• Podcast - Take A Walk With Wainwright to the Lion & the Lamb

May 2006 - Wainwrights Yard is created in Kendal, as a new development with a mixture of new retail units, a Booths Supermarket, the offices of the Westmorland Gazette, and a public square. Within this public sqare are a number of slate slabs with reproductions on them of pages from Wainwights 'Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells'.

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