The Scafells

Within the book’s covers lies the life story of England’s highest mountain range – the Scafells in the English Lake District. The story of the mountains and our human engagement with them over centuries is told, not as a chronology, but during a long walking tour where points of interest prompt commentary and storytelling.

After centuries of relative obscurity comes the gradual discovery of the Scafells by curious and adventurous outsiders, assisted by their often-bemused local hosts. Famous literary figures of the past, such as the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth’s sister, Dorothy, recount their epic stories of fell walking and climbing. The mountains become appreciated and loved, sparking concern about the protection of their natural beauty. National newspapers report on controversy when big beasts in the English establishment spectacularly lock horns over the protection of the Scafells and their landscape setting.

The surveyors of the Ordnance Survey labour in often trying conditions to map the whole range and measure the heights, establishing Scafell Pike as the highest mountain of them all. From new research never published before comes the bizarre story of how the mountain belatedly acquired its own name. Interwoven with these and other stories, the tour passes through the long history of sheep farming in the Scafells and the environmental legacy it has left us today, and sees first-hand the challenges the large number of visitors bring for the future of this iconic mountain area.

A story for both boots-on and armchair readers that looks beyond the scenic beauty alone.