The world’s first written call for a national park

The joint publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798 is widely recognized as the birth of Romanticism in English literature. Both writers are among the first documented ramblers. In 1839, Thomas De Quincey, a contemporary writer and biographer of Wordsworth, famously calculated that William must have walked at least 175,000 miles up to that point in his life. Meanwhile, the Oxford English Dictionary recognizes Samuel Taylor Coleridge as being the first person to use the word “mountaineering" while describing an outing in a letter in 1802.

Wordsworth is also recognized as being an early pioneer in the conservation movement. In 1810, he published A Guide through the District of the Lakes, which likely contains the world’s first written support for the concept of a national park. In the conclusion of the book, Wordsworth argued that the Lake District should be considered “a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy.” Although his wish was never realized during his lifetime, the Lake District would eventually be established as a national park in 1951, less than a month after the Peak District became Britain’s first national park.

Learn more about the pioneers of hiking in Ramble On: A History of Hiking.


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Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century. What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.