Alfred
Wainwright wrote his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells between 1952 and
1966.
The simple
line drawings and clear concise directions make the seven pocket sized guides
almost as essential as good walking boots.
Wainwright
was born into poverty in the Lancashire town of Blackburn in 1907. The son of a
stonemason, he left school when he was 13 and became an office boy in Blackburn
Borough Engineer's Department.
At the age
of 23 he managed a holiday away from home, to the Lake District. It was love at
first sight. In his book Fellwanderer, Wainwright described his first visit
there.
"I was
utterly enslaved by all I saw," he said. "Here were no huge
factories, but mountains; no stagnant canals, but sparkling crystal-clear
rivers; no cinder paths, but beckoning tracks that clamber through bracken and
heather to the silent vastnesses of the hills. That week changed my life."
He
qualified as an accountant and moved to Kendal in 1941, rising to become Borough
Treasurer seven years later.
He spent
every spare moment walking the fells that he loved so deeply.
Alfred
Wainwright was Honorary Clerk and Curator to Kendal Museum from 1945-1974. An
exhibit in the museum recreates his office with many of his original pen and
ink drawings on display.
Many people
visiting the museum still remember him sitting in the museum office, under a
large no smoking sign, smoking his pipe.
