The lady on the horse

The Boundary Walk is a symbolic bow to a lady called Ethel

Haythornthwaite, who played a pivotal role in the creation of the Peak District National Park – and particularly, its border.

Born in 1894 to a Sheffield industrialist and an heiress to the Bassett’s empire (of Allsorts fame), Ethel Ward was taken to the Peak District after suffering depression following the death of her husband in the First World War. It proved the tonic she desperately needed, and she quickly became attracted to the idea of protecting the place from the threats of rampant modernity.

Her cause was stoked even further when she met her second husband, access campaigner Gerald Haythornthwaite. Together they used family inheritances to buy up areas threatened with development, starting with the Longshaw estate near Grindleford. Over the years they blocked outlandish plans such as a racing circuit near Dove Dale and a motorway through Longdendale. To continue their work, they founded the Friends of the Peak District.

In the late 1940s Ethel seized on the interest in creating UK national parks and lobbied for the Peak District to be the first. She even rode out on horseback around the perimeter, conducting a survey of land that in her view should become part of the national park.

She was still arguing with landowners and lawyers over every scrap of land when Gerald pointed out that if they didn’t move soon, the Lake District would beat them to it.

“It was hard, but she eventually saw the need to compromise, because she was determined that the Peak District should have the prestige of becoming the first UK national park,” says Julie Gough.

“And on 17th April 1951, her wish came true. For all these reasons, any friend of the Peak District owes a big debt of thanks to Ethel Haythornthwaite.”