William Gilpin

More about Rev. William Gilpin

WIlliam Gilpin was born in 1724 at Scaleby Castle, near Carlisle, the son of Captain John Bernard Gilpin, elder brother to the more renown Sawrey Gilpin (famous for depictions of animals). He studied at St Bees, then Oxford and was ordained into the priesthood. Holding several curacies before becoming Master at Cheam School. During the holidays he undertook many sketching tours of the British countryside, leading to several books illustrated with his own engravings. In 1774 his publication ‘Observations relative chiefly to the picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772, on several parts of England, particularly the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland and Westmorland’ led to the introduction of the term Picturesque and the subsequent movement. Stirring in many an increasing awareness of the beauties to be found among the mountains and lakes……