2020

250th Anniversary of

William Gilpin’s Wye Tour

The height of fashion

Taking the Wye Tour from Ross-on

Wye to Chepstow was the height of

fashion in the late 18th century, when

war in Europe forced people to

holiday at home.

This two-day boat trip to admire the

picturesque views and romantic ruins

attracted artists, writers and poets.

Their paintings, poetry and prose

reveal just how much they were

enchanted by the landscape of the

Wye Valley.

Dr John Egerton built the first boat especially to entertain his guests on the river in 1745.

He was the Rector of Ross and often invited friends and family to take a trips on the Wye.

They were so popular that commercially minded boatmen saw the possibilities of a ‘Wye Tour’ from Ross to Chepstow.

In 1770 Rev. William Gilpin took the Wye Tour. He was responsible for popularising the Wye Tour, publishing a best-selling guide book in 1782 - Observations on the River Wye

He developed a set of rules for the Picturesque movement, recommending that tourists should ‘examine the face of a country by the rules of picturesque beauty’.

Observations started the fashion for ‘picturesque tourism’ – travel which focused on an appreciation of scenery rather than just history or architecture.

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Observations on the River Wye was one of the first illustrated travel guides to be published.

Gilpin recommended visitors take to the water to find the best views. He told them where to stop at romantic ruins and picturesque viewpoints, creating what was possibly the first ‘package holiday’ and leading to the Wye Valley being called the birthplace of British Tourism.

Gilpin’s ideas on the ‘Picturesque’ led to the concepts of landscape appreciation and conservation, culminating in the designation of protected landscapes – our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The Wye Valley was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1971.

Gilpin 2020 celebrates 250 years since William Gilpin took the Wye Tour. It is a year long conversation - with events and exhibitions, walks and talks and even a mass painting event on the banks of the Wye.

‘They are built to hold ten persons commodiously, have an awning to shelter from rain or sun; a table to draw or regale upon; lockers to hold books, or bottles and benches for four or five men to navigate the boat’

Excellent boats, well and carefully maintained are to be obtained either at Hereford, Ross, or Monmouth.’

‘Tour writing is the very rage of the times’,

wrote John Byng in 1782

Tour diary, Herefordshire Record Office

During the Picturesque movement it became fashionable to build summerhouses at sites with spectacular viewpoints.

With one of the best views around, the small two-storey circular Georgian banqueting house that stands on top of The Kymin, was built in 1794 by the Monmouth Picnic Club.

‘Nothing can be more aggregable in the Summer season, when the tide accords with the hour of the day, than for parties, who descend the Wye in a boat, to have the table cloth spread on the floor of the Abbey, and within the cool shade of its walls enjoy the repast of Dinner. Boats for this pleasurable excursion are always in readiness at Monmouth and Chepstow.’

Tourists came to be inspired

by the scenery – to sketch,

paint and write. Turner was

one of the tourists who fell

under the spell of the Wye

Valley’s landscape.

Tintern Abbey, JMW Turner, Tate

Tintern Abbey, L. Haghe, Chepstow Museum

Tintern Abbey, Edward Swinburne Chepstow Museum

Inside view of Tintern Abbey looking towards the East Wing, John Hassell, 1798, Chepstow Museum

Check out www.gilpin 2020.org

Come on a fam visit in Feb

Send us your ideas and events for www.gilpin2020.org

Come along to planning group meetings

We have images and copy you can use

Join in with the Wye Valley Painting Challenge

www.gilpin2020.orgwww.wyevalleyaonb.org.uk

“the most perfect river-views are composed of four grand parts: the area, which is the river itself; the two side-screens, which are the opposite banks, and lead the perspective; and the front-screen, which points out the winding of the river..... They are varied by... the contrast of the screens....the folding of the side-screen over each other......the ornaments of the Wye.... ground, wood, rocks, and buildings..and colour”.