W. R. Mitchell


William Reginald Mitchell was a British writer who was the editor of Dalesman magazine for twenty years and over a sixty-year period has written over 200 books, hundreds of articles, and delivered many talks on the history and physical and natural evolution of North Britain, with particular emphasis on The Yorkshire Dales, Lancashire and The Lake District. These include biographies, social history, topography, and natural history of the regions. In the course of his career Mitchell has made and collected many taped interviews with people of these regions - now housed at the Universities of Leeds and Bradford - representing a unique archive of dialect and history.

Life and career

W R Mitchell was born in 1928 at Skipton, North Yorkshire. His family worked in the local textile industry and were staunch Methodists; a religion that played an important part in Bill Mitchell’s own life in later years; he was a Methodist local preacher for over 40 years. In 1943, aged 15, Bill Mitchell joined the 'Craven Herald' regional newspaper as a junior reporter.
After national service at Royal Navy air stations, he returned to the newspaper, but in 1948 was asked by Harry J. Scott, editor of Dalesman, to join the staff of the magazine. Dalesman, founded in 1939, is a well-regarded regional magazine still in publication today, and has since its inception has documented the lives, past and present, of people in the Yorkshire Dales and the wider Yorkshire countryside.
From 1951, in addition to his work with Dalesman, Mitchell began editing 'Cumbria', a magazine that covered the Lake District area of England. In the course of his journalistic work, he met and interviewed many people, which subsequently formed the basis for his feature articles and many of his later books. In 1952 he married Freda Bancroft and has two children, David and Janet.
In 1969 Mitchell became editor of Dalesman, a post he held until his retirement in 1986. Yorkshire Television marked his retirement with a programme about his life, narrated by Alan Bennett. Following his retirement, he established his own publishing company, 'Castleberg', from his home in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire. In 1996 Mitchell was awarded the MBE for his services to journalism in Yorkshire and Cumbria, and made an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Bradford. In the same year Mitchell became an Honorary member of the Yorkshire Dales Society, later President and the Society's first Patron.
Bill Mitchell has always been a keen naturalist and this interest has infused his writing over many years. He has been associated with the British Deer Society, The Yorkshire Naturalist Trust, the Cumbrian Wild Life Trust, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and was a founder member of the Royal Naval Bird Watching Society. He also received a Golden Eagle Award in 2007 from the Outdoor Writers’ and Photographers’ Guild, which cited him as one of the founding fathers of outdoor writing. In September 2009 he was voted 'Greatest Living Icon' for the Yorkshire Dales National Park in a poll by this organisation to mark the 60th anniversary of the National Parks. The following year, May 2010, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dalesman Rural Awards Ceremony in Harrogate for his work in recording the history, heritage and wildlife of the Yorkshire Dales and Moors. In April 2014, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Dalesman, he was voted no 33 in a poll to find the 75 Greatest Icons of Yorkshire.
He wrote a regular column in the Bradford 'Telegraph & Argus' newspaper for several years: 'Letter from the Dales'; has been a regular contributor to the North Yorkshire 'Craven Herald' newspaper ; and had a monthly feature in the Dalesman:'Dalesfolk I Remember'. He died at Airedale General Hospital on 7 October 2015, aged 87.

W. R. Mitchell Archive

The majority of Mitchell's cassette tapes of Dales life are deposited in the University of Leeds library. The University has a large collection of oral histories as part of The Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture.
These cassette tapes feature interviews, including those conducted with the author, Alfred Wainwright, and with Alf Wight, more commonly known as ‘James Herriot’, as well as interviews with people who had known Beatrix Potter. These taped stories range from those told by the local gentry - such as the Dawsons of the Folly in Settle, and the Yorkes of Halton Place - to ordinary folk living in remote Dales communities.
They also present a record of different Dales accents and dialects used over forty years ago and which, because of greater social mobility, are less frequently heard today. The Leeds Archive collection also features a selection of Bill Mitchell's printed works and correspondence with Lakeland residents, including the sculptress Josephina Banner de Vasconcellos.
The University of Bradford Library also has eight boxes of W R Mitchell material, including scrapbooks, correspondence and audio tapes.
In 2011 the W.R. Mitchell Archive was established by Sita Brand and is managed by the charity, Settle Stories, based in Settle, North Yorkshire. The aim is to make a selection of these tapes easily and freely accessible to the public. In January 2012, Settle Stories received a £50,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant to digitise a selection of the cassette tapes. This will enable all interested to research, read and listen to these oral histories online.

Works

Books (including co-authorship)

• North Ribblesdale Clapham :Dalesman.
• Hollow mountains: The story of man's conquest of the caves and potholes of North-West Yorkshire throughout 10,000 years.
• Long Drag A Story Of Men Under Stress During The Construction Of The Settle - Carlisle Line.
• Men of Lakeland London: Dent.
• Lancashire Witch Country Clapham :Dalesman.
• Sacred Place of the Lake District Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Settle-Carlisle Railway: the Midland's Record-breaking Route to Scotland.. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Haworth and the Brontes: A visitor's guide . Clapham :Dalesman.
• A Year with the Curlews: Life on the Northern Pennines Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Haworth and The Brontes Clapham : Dalesman.
• The John Peel Story. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Settle-Carlisle Railway Clapham :Dalesman.
• Haunted Yorkshire Clapham : Dalesman.
• Grasmere and the Wordsworths. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Haunts of Robin Hood. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Haworth and the Brontes. Clapham :Dalesman.
• A Few Million Birds London: Hale.
• Highland Spring Travels In The Highland London: Hale.
• Pennine Birds: A Visitor's Handbook Clapham :Dalesman.
• Across Morecambe Bay: By the Oversands Route Clapham :Dalesman.
• Lakeland Birds Clapham : Dalesman.
• Lakeland A-Z: A Handbook for Visitors. Clapham :Dalesman.
• The Railway Shanties. Navvy Life During The Construction Of The Settle-Carslisle Line. Clapham :Dalesman.
• West Highland Summer London: Hale.
• Yorkshire Dales A-Z . Clapham :Dalesman.
• Lakeland A to Z . Clapham : Dalesman.
• Settle Carlisle Centenary: 100 Years in Pictures of England's Highest Main Line Railway Clapham : Dalesman.
• Settle-Carlisle Railway. A Centenary Edition Clapham :Dalesman.
• Wild Pennines London: Hale.
• Seven Years Hard: Building the Settle-Carlisle Railway Clapham : Dalesman.
• Around Morecambe Bay: From Lune's Mouth to Walney Clapham : Dalesman.
• Birdwatching in Yorkshire Clapham : Dalesman.
• Fred Taylor: Yorkshire Cheesemaker Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Highland Autumn London: Hale.
• Lancashire Mill Town Traditions Clapham : Dalesman.
• Lake District Sports Clapham : Dalesman.
• Yorkshire Mill Town Traditions. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Exploring the Robin Hood Country Clapham : Dalesman.
• Life in the Yorkshire Dales: A Pictorial Review Clapham : Dalesman.
• Lake Poets: An Illustrated Selection of Verse Clapham : Dalesman.
• Wild Cumbria London: Hale.
• Exploring Captain Cook Country Clapham : Dalesman.
• Exploring the Lancashire Witch Country Clapham : Dalesman.
• Pennine Lead-miner: Eric Richardson of Nenthead Clapham : Dalesman.
• Education for Peace Belfast: Christian Journals Ltd.
• East Sussex London: Faber and Faber.
• Cumbrian Blacksmith: Jonty Wilson of Kirkby Lonsdale Clapham : Dalesman.
• Exploring the Ribble Valley Clapham : Dalesman.
• Life in the Lake District: Pictorial Memories of a Bygone Age Clapham : Dalesman.
• Bowness and Windermere Clapham : Dalesman.
• The Lake Poets: An Illustrated Selection of Verse Clapham : Dalesman.
• Life on the North York Moors: a pictorial review. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Yorkshire Pride Clapham :Dalesman.
• Lancashire Pride. An Illustrated Anthology of Prose and Verse Skipton: Dalesman.
• Yorkshire Dales Folk Clapham : Dalesman.
• Ghosts of Yorkshire Clapham :Dalesman.
• Life on the Yorkshire Coast Clapham :Dalesman.
• Life in Lancashire Mill Towns Clapham : Dalesman.
• Lakeland Dalesfolk Clapham : Dalesman.
• Bird Watch Around Scotland London: Hale.
• Life on the Settle-Carlisle Railway Clapham :Dalesman.
• Life on the Yorkshire Pennines. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Life in the Lancashire Mill Towns Clapham : Dalesman.
• Wordsworth's Lake District Clapham : Dalesman.
• Life Around Morecambe Bay Clapham : Dalesman.
• Vintage Dalesman. Classic articles from "The Dalesman" . Clapham :Dalesman.
• Walks from the Settle-Carlisle Railway Clapham :Dalesman.
• Edward Elgar in the Yorkshire Dales Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Beatrix Potter Remembered: Her Life in Lakeland Clapham : Dalesman.
• J.B.Priestley's Yorkshire Clapham : Dalesman.
• Lancashire Milltown Memories Clapham : Dalesman.
• The Changing Dales Clapham :Dalesman.
• The Fabulous Cliffords Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Gossip from Giggleswick Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Yorkshire's Hollow Mountains Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• How They Built the Settle-Carlisle Railway Settle: Kingfisher Productions.
• How They Lived in Old Settle Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Changing Lakeland: Forty Years of ‘Progress’. Clapham : Dalesman.
• The Very Best of Yorkshire Humour. Tales Told by Charlie Lawson Clapham : Dalesman.
• A Dalesman's Diary London: Souvenir Press.
• The Elgar Way Giggleswick: Castleberg.

• Its a Long Way to Muckle Flugga Souvenir Press Ltd
• Ghosts of the Settle-Carlisle Railway Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Story of Ribblehead Viaduct Settle: Kingfisher Productions.
• Footplate Tales of the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Garsdale and Aisgill on the Settle-Carlisle Railway Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Nowt's Same: A Light Hearted Review of Dales Life in the 20th Century Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• High Dale Country London: Souvenir Press.
• The Giggleswick Scores of Edward Elgar Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Mr. Elgar and Dr.Buck: A Musical Friendship Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• By Gum, Life Were Sparse! Memories of the Northern Mill Towns London: Souvenir Press.
• Hellifield and the Railway Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Dry Stone Walls of Yorkshire. Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Drystone Walls in the Yorkshire Dales. Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Locomotives Seen on the Settle-Carlisle Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• The Lost Village of Stocks-in-Bowland Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Three Peaks and Malhamdale . Clapham :Dalesman.
• Yorkshire Laughter/Native Wit and Humour Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• After You, Mr. Wainwright: In the Fell Country of Lakeland Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Finlay MacQueen of St.Kilda Oban: Oban Times.
• Ribblehead Re-born Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Hotfoot to Haworth: Pilgrims to the Bronte Shrine Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• After You, Mr Wainwright. In the Fell Country of Lakeland Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• A Walk Through the Yorkshire Dales Clapham : Dalesman.
• Bill Mitchell's Yorkshire Clapham :Dalesman.
• Men Who Made the Settle-Carlisle Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• A Popular History of Settle and Giggleswick Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Bowland and Pendle Clapham : Dalesman.
• The Lost Village of Mardale Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Lakeland Laughter: Native Wit & Humour Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• The Great Yorkshire Joke Book Clapham :Dalesman.
• The Life and Traditions of the Ribble Valley Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Settle to Carlisle, The Middle Route to Scotland, a Railway over the Pennines. Clapham :Dalesman.
• Settle to Carlisle; a Railway over the Pennines Clapham :Dalesman.
• Yorkshire Curiosities Clapham :Dalesman.
• A Passion for Puffins Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Ingleborough: The Big Blue Hill Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Best Yorkshire Quotations Clapham : Dalesman.
• A Merry Yorkshire Christmas Clapham : Dalesman.
• Letters from the Dales Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Letters from the Lakes Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Dent: The Highest Mainline Station in England Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Ghost Hunting in the Yorkshire Dales. Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• The Wasdale Monster Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• The Stocks Revisited Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• The Walker's Guide to Central Lakeland Clapham : Dalesman.
• Yorkshire Humour London: Hale.
• Lake District Insight London: APA Publications.
• The Walker's Guide to South-east Lakeland . Clapham : Dalesman.
• You're Only Old once. London: Hale.
• Mile by Mile on the Settle-Carlisle Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Music of the Yorkshire Dales Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Beatrix Potter: Her Life in the Lake District Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Summat and Nowt: Memories of a Yorkshire Editor Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Garsdale: History of a Station on the Settle-Carlisle Railway Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• The Story of the Yorkshire Dales Chichester: Phillimore & Co.
• Edith Carr: Life on Malham Moor Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Tot Lord and the Bone Caves Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• A Walk Through the Yorkshire Dales Clapham : Dalesman.
• Birds of the Lake District Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Nobbut Middlin'. Laugh with the Dalesfolk Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• A History of Leeds Chichester: Phillimore & Co.
• One Hundred Tales of the Settle to Carlisle Railway Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Walker's Guide to North-east Lakeland Skipton: Dalesman.
• How They Lived in the Yorkshire Dales Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Watch the Birdie. The Life and Times of Richard and Cherry Kearton,: Pioneers of Wildlife Photography Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Reginald Farrer: At home in the Yorkshire Dales Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Living Moors of Yorkshire Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• How They Lived in the Lake District Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Dalesfolk and Dialect Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Kit Calvert: Yorkshire Dalesman Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Destination Rum. : Tales from the Forbidden Island Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Bowland and Pendle Hill Chichester: Phillimore & Co.
• Farm Life in the Lakeland Dales Weymouth: Waterfront Publications.
• Brackengarth Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Keswick and Northern Lakeland Skipton: Dales Country Publishing.
• Skipton and the Craven Dales Chichester: Phillimore & Co.
• Connections : artists and writers in North Craven Settle: North Craven Building Preservation Trust.
• The Lost Shanties of Ribblehead Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• The Eden Valley and North Pennines Chichester: Phillimore & Co.
• James Herriot in conversation with WR Mitchell Giggleswick: Castleberg.
• Hannah Hauxwell - 80 Years in the Dales Ilkley: Great Northern Books.
• Thunder in the Mountains: The Men Who Built Ribblehead Ilkley: Great Northern Books.
• Wainwright: Milltown to Mountain. Ilkley: Great Northern Books.
• The Lune Valley and the Howgill Fells: The Impact of the Second World War on British Children Chichester: Phillimore & Co.
• Beatrix Potter: Her Lakeland Years Ilkley: Great Northern Books..
• Herriot - A Vet's Life Ilkley: Great Northern Books..
• Settle’s Victorian Music Hall Settle: Settle Amateur Operatic Society.
All printed by Pen Press:
Yorkshire Courtship
From the Yorkshire Dales to Salt Lake City
Life on t'Back Street
Pulpit Tales of the Yorkshire Dales
Peter Delap: Doctor and Deerologist
Peggy Ellwood: Life on a Lakeland Farm

Film Commentaries

Villages of the Lake District. DVD. Settle: Kingfisher.
Villages of the Yorkshire Dales. DVD. Settle: Kingfisher.
Lake District In The Past. DVD. Settle: Kingfisher.