Our Long History
The Wasdale Head Inn has welcomed travellers for more than 200 years. Long before Wasdale became a destination for walkers and climbers, the Inn was a welcome stop for farmers, miners, merchants, smugglers and other travellers crossing the surrounding mountain passes, including Black Sail, Sty Head and Burnmoor.
Today, the Inn remains at the heart of Wasdale Head, but its story is inseparable from the people who have passed through its doors and from the breathtaking landscape that surrounds it. Whether it’s for a well-earned pint at the end of the Three Peaks Challenge, a long weekend exploring the fells, or simply time spent together in the mountains, we are proud to welcome climbers, adventurers, mountaineers and families alike – and to have played a small part in so many stories and love stories along the way.
The legend of Will Ritson
Perhaps the most famous landlord in the Inn’s history was Will Ritson (1808–1890) – huntsman, wrestler, farmer, fellman, mountain guide and celebrated raconteur. Ritson became renowned as “The World’s Biggest Liar,” thanks to the extravagant tales he told to visitors at the Inn.
He retired in 1879, but his name lives on – head to Ritson’s Bar to be part of the history.
The home of British climbing
Wasdale’s place in climbing history began to take shape long before the sport was popular. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is reputed to have scrambled up Scafell Pike in 1802, around 80 years before the period now recognised as the Golden Age of British climbing (1882–1903).
During this era, climbers – often middle and upper-middle-class professionals – would leave their everyday lives behind during Easter, Christmas and summer holidays and head for Wasdale Head. The Wasdale Head Inn became a meeting place for a new generation of adventurers, with the surrounding fells providing a spectacular playground for the emerging sport of mountaineering.
Among the climbers who helped establish Wasdale’s reputation were Walter Parry Haskett Smith, who made the first ascent of Napes Needle in 1886, and Owen Glynne Jones. The Abraham Brothers, George and Ashley, were pioneering climbers as well as talented photographers, capturing the people, landscapes and spirit of this remarkable period in climbing history.
Writers and adventurers
The Inn has welcomed its fair share of literary visitors too. William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Dickens are all associated with the area, while writer Nicholas Monsarrat recalled in his autobiography buying his first ever glass of beer at the Wasdale Head Inn, and Wainwright Walks: Coast to Coast presenter Alfred Wainwright was one of our regulars.
The building itself has also evolved over the years. In the 1970s, Edwin and Carolyn Hammond took on the hotel when it was close to dereliction, transforming it with more modern facilities while carefully preserving its character and its unique place as the home of British climbing.
Since 2000, the Inn has been owned by Nigel and Lesley Burton, who continue to care for the hotel and its traditions, with a commitment to preserving the spirit of Wasdale for future generations.
If you’d like to see just how much has changed, take a look at the 1926 advertisement for the Wasdale Head Inn below. Spot the differences!
