Not all of the first fellwalkers were beardie blokes. Let’s celebrate Dorothy, co-inventor of English Romanticism; her friend Mary; Mary’s maid Agnes; and the astonishing Miss Smith. [1200 words, 5min
Examples of these women can be mentioned in the modern era, Mrs. Wanda Rutkowicz from Poland, who went further in that closed communist space where men considered it their right to climb mountains, or Mrs. Elizabeth Hargroves from England.
There were also some notable women Alpinists in the 19th Century - I'll be writing about them in a month or two probably. Miss Lily Bristow, Mrs Aubrey le Blonde. Rachel Hargreaves and Julie Tullis both killed themselves in the mountains, so I'm not inclined to celebrate that in either men or women.
Hello Ronald, in the two articles I read about the history of women, one on the UK Climbing website and a recent post, it was very interesting to me. Women like Dorothy Wallister and Smith were great pioneers who were able to break the limits of the traditional societies of England and Wales and Scotland and 100 years ahead of time. be yourself
Fascinating stuff again - a good deal that I knew, and a good deal that I didn't.
I followed the link to the Sca(w)fell Pike piece before reading the rest of your and I was a bit stumped by 'Ash-course'. Was this simply a mishearing of 'Esk Hause' (though the Wordsworths were Cumberland natives)? 'Esk' and 'Hause' have both been in use for a long time, haven't they, separately and probably together?
Jonathan Otley's map doesn't name the pass. Mary Barton was there first, and heard it as 'Ash Course'. Dorothy Wordsworth worked out straight away that it should actually be 'Esk Hause' (the pass at the head of Eskdale) and says as much in her original letter. But when WW was transcribing it into his guidebook he left out that insight. (For non-Lakeland readers, 'hause' or 'hass' is the Old English word for a pass, common in Northern England and the Scottish Borders.)
Examples of these women can be mentioned in the modern era, Mrs. Wanda Rutkowicz from Poland, who went further in that closed communist space where men considered it their right to climb mountains, or Mrs. Elizabeth Hargroves from England.
There were also some notable women Alpinists in the 19th Century - I'll be writing about them in a month or two probably. Miss Lily Bristow, Mrs Aubrey le Blonde. Rachel Hargreaves and Julie Tullis both killed themselves in the mountains, so I'm not inclined to celebrate that in either men or women.
Hello Ronald, in the two articles I read about the history of women, one on the UK Climbing website and a recent post, it was very interesting to me. Women like Dorothy Wallister and Smith were great pioneers who were able to break the limits of the traditional societies of England and Wales and Scotland and 100 years ahead of time. be yourself
Fascinating stuff again - a good deal that I knew, and a good deal that I didn't.
I followed the link to the Sca(w)fell Pike piece before reading the rest of your and I was a bit stumped by 'Ash-course'. Was this simply a mishearing of 'Esk Hause' (though the Wordsworths were Cumberland natives)? 'Esk' and 'Hause' have both been in use for a long time, haven't they, separately and probably together?
Jonathan Otley's map doesn't name the pass. Mary Barton was there first, and heard it as 'Ash Course'. Dorothy Wordsworth worked out straight away that it should actually be 'Esk Hause' (the pass at the head of Eskdale) and says as much in her original letter. But when WW was transcribing it into his guidebook he left out that insight. (For non-Lakeland readers, 'hause' or 'hass' is the Old English word for a pass, common in Northern England and the Scottish Borders.)
Thanks