Celia Fiennes

Celia Fiennes (7 June 1642 - 10 April 1741) was an English traveller. Born in Wiltshire, she was the daughter of a colonel, who was in turn the second son of the William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele.

Related Topics:
7 June - 1642 - 10 April - 1741 - English - Wiltshire - William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele

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Fiennes did not marry and in 1691 she moved to London, where she had a married sister. She travelled around England from around 1685, "to regain my health by variety and change of aire and exercise" (Journeys). At this time the idea of travel for its own sake was still quite novel, and Fiennes was exceptional as an enthusiatic woman traveller. Sometimes she travelled with relatives, but she made her "Great Journey to Newcastle and Cornwall" of 1698 accompanied only by one or two servants. Her travels continued intermittantly until at least 1712 and took her to every county in England.

Related Topics:
London - Newcastle - Cornwall

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Fiennes has little interest in art, and at that time few people delighted in the natural world. But she was interested in anything new, in innovations, bustling towns, the newly fashionable spas such as Bath and Harrogate, and in commerce. She saw many of the finest baroque houses in England while they were still under construction. Contrary to the widespread conception that country house visiting began after World War II, English country houses have been accessible to travellers of good social standing since Fiennes' time if not earlier, and her comments on the newly built houses she inspected are one of the most interesting contemporary sources of information about them. She was not a refined prose stylist but her enthusiastic, even breathless, descriptions are often memorable.

Related Topics:
Bath - Harrogate - Baroque - Country house - World War II

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Fiennes died in Hackney in 1741. She had first worked up her notes into a travelling journal in 1702, but she never published them. Robert Southey published extracts in 1812, and the first complete edition appeared in 1888 under the title Through England on a Side Saddle. A scholarly edition entitled The Journeys of Celia Fiennes was produced by Christopher Morris in 1947, and the book is constantly in print in a variety of editions.

Related Topics:
Hackney - Robert Southey

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