A Wainwright (1907-1991)

A Wainwright

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.

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

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.