Wainwright Memories: new fellwalking book details the life and times of Lancashire’s greatest rambler

Few embodied that innately British evolutionary instinct to walk better than the late, great Alfred Wainwright. Born into a dirt-poor Blackburn family in 1907, Wainwright nevertheless did well at school, demonstrating a keen early interest in maps and cartography, even going as far as to draw his own rough maps of England and more detailed ones of his local area at a young age.

A born rambler, he was never happier than when he had the sweep of countryside oxygen in his throat and impossibly verdant vistas of green and blue in front of him, gaping open like split fruit. At 23, he saved up for a week-long walking holiday in the Lake District, arrived in Windermere, and scaled Orrest Head. There he caught his first glimpse of the Lakeland fells.

It was to be a lifelong love affair. Wainwright moved to the area in 1941, eventually combining his triumvirate of passions - walking, nature, and cartography - to produce his seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. Not only the standard reference to some 214 Lake District fells, the guidebooks have never been out of print, selling some 2m copies.

To this day, the landscape is imbued with his spirit - scale Innominate Tarn at the top of Haystacks and you’ll be gently buffeted by the same breeze which scattered Wainwright’s ashes after his death in 1991 of a heart attack.

‘Wainwright’s passion rubbed off on a lot of people’

“Wainwright wouldn’t even entertain going abroad,” says Chris Butterfield, perhaps the world’s preeminent Wainwright aficionado. “He loved the British landscape; the fields, the streams, the hills, the fells… The Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Lancashire, Scotland. He loved it all. And his love rubbed off on a lot of people, including me.”

Renowned as a passionate protector and advocate for Wainwright’s legacy, Chris has, with the help of his wife Priscilla, not only amassed one of the largest private collections of Wainwright memorabilia in existence, but has also published a book about the great fellwalker titled Wainwright Memories in homage to an understated legend.

Featuring a charming litany of previously-unpublished stories and photographs from Wainwright’s rich and storied life, the book also contains invaluable reflections and insights from his former publisher, Andrew Nichol, now 90 and this planet’s most tangible tether to Wainwright’s undimmed legacy. It’s a must-read for fans and casual hiking enthusiasts alike.

Butterfield’s beginnings

“I’ve always been into hiking and the outdoors, but I probably started walking seriously when I was about 18, which is when I discovered the Pennine Way,” says Chris, now 50. “The trail fascinated me but, being a student, there was no way I could afford the time and money to walk it! But I knew walking was in my blood.

“Years later, when I turned 40 in 2013, my ambition was finally fulfilled when me and my wife finally walked the Pennine Way,” Chris adds. “That led us to do Wainwright’s coast-to-coast walk, which is what first introduced me to him. I was inspired by how beautiful the walk was, so I started researching and my wife bought me a set of his guidebooks the following year.

“They blew me away,” Chris continues. “Hand-written in pen-and-ink, the detail, the poetic prose, the love for the environment… I was immediately interested in this guy who had brought to life these fells and mountains. And, the more I read, the more I wanted to share his story.”

Discovering Wainwright

Realising that he was coming fresh to material that had existed for decades after its author’s death, Chris started knocking on doors in Kendal, desperate to connect with anyone who could narrow the degrees of separation between himself and Wainwright. Which is how he met Andrew Nichol, who had spent 10 years as Wainwright’s printer and publisher.

“Andrew had retired in 1992 and said he’d been waiting 30 years for somebody to come along and ask about Wainwright,” says Chris with a laugh. “I basically became his student in all things Wainwright, which was such a blessing and an honour. And, through Andrew, I met David Rigg, who had all the printing material from Wainwright’s career.

“He said he simply didn’t have the resources to trawl through it all, and so made me the custodian of the collection on the proviso that I dug through it to find out more about the guidebooks and write a full history behind their design, styles, pricing, and publishing in an online encyclopaedia,” Chris adds.

“Since then, I’ve amassed probably the biggest private collection of Wainwright material, from impressions and original manuscripts to personal possessions. I’m just proud to be an ambassador for his legacy: we have to keep his work alive for the next generation.”

Following in legendary footsteps

Chronicling three little-known stories involving Alfred Wainwright which took place over three consecutive years from 1988 to 1990, Wainwright Memories sees Chris and Andrew revisit several of the locations featured in three classic Wainwright tales to reminisce about Wainwright’s impact, and recreate photos taken decades earlier. The tales are as follows:

• The Scotland Trip: A lifelong lover of Scotland, this tale recounts a time when Wainwright invited his close friend and publisher Andrew Nichol and his wife to join him and his wife on a Hebridean holiday.
• The Unfinished Book: The behind-the-scenes story of how Wainwright came to write a new book for fans of meandering and sightseeing to complement his best-selling guidebook A Coast to Coast Walk, a 182-mile long-distance footpath designed for more hardy walkers.
• The Langdale Shoot: The account of one of Wainwright's final photoshoots in the Lake District, organised to preserve his legacy and shot by his friend Ken Shepherd.

“The whole undertaking with the book was a dream,” says Chris. “It all came from a love of Wainwright and it was a real joy; each new little revelation was a thrill. I’ve met so many people and learned so much from those connected to Wainwright, so seeing the final book gave me a tremendous amount of pride. It was a true labour of love.

“It’s been fantastic to see the impact it’s already had on those who’ve read it,” he adds. “Never let it be said that you can’t turn your life’s passion into your work! I can’t think of anything more worthwhile than introducing more people to Wainwright and to the Lake District itself. There’s no more beautiful place on earth to walk and lose a day or two.”

Passion echoing through history

And so, a nation of walkers has the definitive portal into the life and times of one of its greatest ramblers. “How many guidebooks are still relevant despite being written 70 years ago?” asks Chris. “Not many. I don’t think anybody can match what he’s done. When he started penning the guides, he worked out that it would take him 13 years to complete.

“Seven books mapping the entirety of the Lake District… And he finished within two weeks of that goal,” Chris adds. “That shows the sheer love he had for the place.”