Celia Fiennes

Celia Fiennes ( born June 7, 1662 at Newton Toney, Wiltshire, † April 10, 1741 in Hackney ) was an English travel writer who traveled the first woman to all English counties.

Celia Fiennes lived from 1691 with her ​​married sister in London and undertook 1684-1712 multiple tours throughout England to get their " health by change of air and exercise ." At the time traveling was still unusual for the sake of traveling. Added to this was the fact that Fiennes as a woman traveling alone and mostly in developing a " Great Journey to Newcastle and Cornwall " only one or two servants was accompanied.

She used her experience documented in a diary in 1702, which, however, did not publish, but had provided only for private use within their family. It gives a detailed insight into the state of travel routes and landscapes. Excerpts from this diary were first published by Robert Southey in 1812; the complete diary was published in 1888 under the title Through England on a Side Saddle, which also refers to the fact that Fiennes was not traveling in a carriage, but the trips in the Saddle undertook riding. Another edition appeared in 1947 under the title The Journeys of Celia Fiennes and was until now reissued again and again in various editions.

Celia Fiennes was interested in everything unusual and new, such as the new at that time and popular spas ( " Spas" ) in Bath or Harrogate. Your thoughts on private travel foresaw the trend towards significance of tourism as it was reinforced later by Daniel Defoe through his Tour through the Whole Iceland of Great Britain ( 1724-26 ).

Saw her travels and visited some of the major Fiennes country seats of England, some of which were still in the development phase. Your descriptions are an important contemporary source of information about this " Country Houses".

Celia Fiennes was not a prosaic the extremely gifted writers, their travel diaries and descriptions, however, are marked by enthusiasm and attention to detail. It is generally accepted that she was the first woman who traveled all the counties of England.