Drawing 107: Wythburn Church
Direction of view: SE
Notes: At the time of my visit in 2013 (see below), it was impossible to replicate Wainwright’s sketch, as a tree had grown up where he must have stood. The trees behind the church in the drawing have been felled (between 1977 and 1979?), and the fellside is visible – a nicer backdrop. It will be very difficult to get sunlight on the side of the church facing the camera – only early on a midsummer evening (see image 2). This sketch also appears on page 165 of Wainwright in Lakeland
Comments: I first took this picture on slide film on 6th April 1977, during the Easter holidays of my first year at University (image 1). It was a day out with Andrew Amos and Peter Messenger, and we snapped a clutch of sketches around Wythburn (107 and 158) and Rydal (234), before heading to Grasmere (350) and up Easedale (65) for a walk on the fells (209, 354 and 366). It was an odd day, with a good deal of sun, and some heavy snow showers.
I visited the church again in 1979; this was probably a day with Peter Messenger in late summer, spent visiting sketch locations around Coniston and Windermere, reaching Wythburn around sunset.
Having passed Wythburn church countless times in the meanwhile, I stopped to look at it again and get a photograph on 29th December 2013 (image 3). Sheelagh Hughes Hallett and I were having a day out in the Lake District, and I was trying out a new gadget – a spirit level which fits into the camera hot shoe. I also used a tripod for the shot, which came out nicely.
Inside the church, postcards are sold, also of a pen and ink drawing of the church – a similar view to Wainwright’s, but not identical, with trees similar to the 1979 photo.
