A Wainwright, the man who uniquely mapped the landscape of the Lake District, was the author of over fifty guidebooks and volumes of drawings covering the Lake District, the Pennine Way, the Limestone Dales, Scotland and the Coast to Coast Walk. It was his love of the fells, desire to escape from office life, and his longstanding fascination with maps that caused AW, on the evening of 9 November 1952, to pen the first page of his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells; a singular act which lead to him becoming a household name particularly with those who share a love of the mountains and valleys of the Lake District. He compiled his famous Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells between 1952 and 1966 and for this 'labour of love', as he called it, he was awarded the MBE. He was chairman of Animal Rescue in Cumbria and with royalties from his book collections, a permanent shelter has been established near Kendal.

AW, as he is more often referred to, was brought up in a terraced house in Blackburn, poor but happy. He left school at the age of thirteen and rose from a lowly office boy to a trainee accountant in the Borough Treasurer's office. He moved to Kendal in 1941, to take up the position of Borough Treasurer itself and, living on the doorstep of the Lake District, walked over them time and time again until he was familiar with every summit, tarn and shepherd's path.

His weekend wanderings in those silent and lonely places, as they were then, developed within him an intimate knowledge of the geography of this delectable corner of England. AW never sought publicity preferring to shy away from crowded places, even if approached, to deny his identity. It was in his later years that he came out of hiding to feature on several BBC programs depicting his favourite haunts.

Ironically, the production of so many well illustrated guide books lead to an upsurge in popularity encouraging the exploration of the more remote previously uncharted regions; this has resulted in many popular routes be so eroded that special teams are now fully employed in the management of paths.

With his eyesight fading, AW prolific output reduced to mere trickle ; AW died in January 1991 at the age of eighty four leaving a legacy of books to be enjoyed for ever.

AWs final resting place lies beside the Innominate Tarn on Haystacks; one of his favourite fells.