We take a look at the life of Alfred Wainwright, the man who did so much to popularise the Lakes and fell walking <\/p>
Alfred Wainwright is synonymous with the Lake District and, thanks to his popular guides, he made the fells accessible to the masses and revolutionised fell walking. But who was he?<\/strong> <\/p> Alfred Wainwright is best known for his series of seven books, Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells<\/em>, first published between 1955 and 1966. In these books, handwritten and illustrated with his own pen-and-ink drawings, he described routes on to 214 different fells, their natural features and the view from each summit. He also devised the 192-mile Coast to Coast<\/a> long-distance hike from St Bees<\/a> in Cumbria<\/a> to Robin Hood\u2019s Bay<\/a> in North Yorkshire<\/a>.<\/p> Wainwright was born in 1907, the youngest of four children.<\/p> Wainwright was from the mill town of Blackburn, Lancashire.<\/p> Wainwright first visited the Lake District in 1830. According to the Wainwright Society<\/a>: “He travelled by bus from Blackburn to Windermere with his cousin and on their arrival they climbed the 780\u2019 of Orrest Head” where, as Wainwright wrote later, “Orrest Head cast a spell that changed my life”. <\/p> He moved to Lakeland in 1941 when he got a job in the Borough Treasurer\u2019s\u00a0Office in Kendal, where he worked until he retired in 1967.<\/p> He started his guides in November 1952. <\/p> The 214 fells described in Wainwright’s seven Pictorial Guides <\/em>are all within the Lake District National Park<\/a> and all but one (Castle Crag<\/a>) are over 304.8\u00a0metres (1,000 feet) in height.<\/p> Wainwright married twice. He married his first wife Ruth Holden in 1931 but they had divorced by 1968. In 1970 he married Betty McNally.<\/p> Wainwright had one son Peter from his marriage with Ruth.<\/p> Alfred Wainwright died on 20 January 1991. <\/p>What is Wainwright most famous for?<\/h2>
When was Alfred Wainwright born?<\/h2>
Where is Alfred Wainwright from?<\/h2>
When did Wainwright first visit the Lake District?<\/h2>
When did Wainwright move to the Lake District?<\/h2>
When did he start writing his guides?<\/h2>
What are the 214 Wainwrights?<\/h2>
Who did Wainwright marry?<\/h2>
Did Alfred Wainwright have children?<\/h2>
When did Alfred Wainwright die?<\/h2>