Writings on the Wall

This is one of the first things we bought to decorate our new house when we moved to Kendal 30 years ago. As a keen fell walker I had long enjoyed the works of Alfred Wainwright, and was delighted to see that the printers of his works (The Westmorland Gazette) were selling off the original printing plates from the limited edition (1,000 copies) of his book “Westmorland Heritage”
Not unsurprisingly, the plates for the popular fells and villages had been quickly snapped up, as had a lot of the Kendal area ones. But the one for Helsington was still available and our house was pretty close to that area, so we went for that.
Whilst it was off the wall during the recent redecoration of our current house, we took the opportunity to have a stronger hanging cord put on the back - it’s quite a weighty piece and the original fittings were looking a bit dodgy. After a good clean of the frame and glass, it has now been restored to pride of place on the newly decorated living room wall.
Sadly, the original Westmorland Gazette printing works have long since gone and a Booths supermarket and other shops now occupy the site. But, in a nod to the past, the development is called “Wainwrights Yard” and contains a couple of plaques commemorating the man and his works.