A very simple but very special Memorial Window to a man who wished for little apart from the joy of walking in the Lakeland Mountains and Fells of Cumbria. His name was Alfred Wainwright (1907-1991).
He set himself the task of climbing every one of Lakelands fells, not just by one route but just about every way of accent possible and whilst doing so writing but perhaps more importantly drawing and mapping each route as the walker would see it. So good were his drafting skills that his guide books were printed, not with type faces, but as facsimiles of his hand drawn and written pages….quite a skill and what unique guides they still are.
I never knew the man, but just like many thousands of hill walkers, I feel that through his Guide Books that I really did……indeed a friend on the hills.
He wanted no grave, no monument, but as he so well expressed in one of his books his wish was for his ashes to be scattered on his favourite mountain and added this text…. “and if you, dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Haystacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me”.
The window above can be found in the Shepherds Hillside Church in Buttermere and looks directly at Wainwrights favourite Mountain and resting place, Haystacks.
So simple, so just right, so nice.
11th January
© David Oakes 2014
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 
Yes, it is so beautiful… Iam impressed so much Thank you dear David, love, nia
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Lovely photo; Mr. Wainwright’s guides sound fascinating, I must Google him. And he seems to have had a wonderful sense of humor.
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So I just went in to Amazon where you can get a freebie look inside a book…his guide sketches are wonderful as is the concept of his hand writing vs. typed printing of his words. Thanks for the intro.
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Well there you go…..I feel I have achieved something today…introducing you to Wainwright. The Guides are just great, and dare I say, even more accurate (from a walkers point of view) than survey maps.
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Very poignant memorial to such a natural/nature loving person. I love how people with a passion for what they do can often leave the most remarkable legacies. Thank you for this ‘window’.
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I need to find me a window like that David – what a superb understated memorial.
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Yep…understated like the man himself
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What a remarkable man he must have been, and it’s very good of you to introduce him to us and to widen awareness of him and his work. The view through that window looks so much like a painting!
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He was an illusive character at first, wanted to be anonymous. In fact as the Guide books were published over a number of years and as they were so popular walkers were always on the look out for Wainwright…there were reported sightings, but none confirmed, not surprising as
no one knew what he looked like! In later life he did change and was persuaded to do a TV series on his walks and accepted, to a degree, the fame and recognition that brought with it. The Guide Books are as valid today as when they were written, some times copied in style but none quite getting it just right.
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