Scotland and Wales through the eyes of a 18th century travel writer

Thomas Pennant oil by Thomas Gainsborough. Public Domain via Wikicommon. Thomas Pennant was a Welsh naturalist, writer, and antiquarian, who today is increasingly being credited for pioneering the 'home tour' of the British Isles, A great traveller and travel writer, he played a pivotal role in stimulating the birth of tourism in Scotland and Wales in the later 18 century and romantic period. No - not Dr Samuel Johnson, but Thomas Pennant! Pennant was a naturalist, writer, and antiquarian from Wales. Today, although hardly a household name, he is increasingly being credited for pioneering the 'home tour' of the British Isles, for 'discovering' parts of the country previously unknown to outsiders, inspired by the Pacific travels of his contemporaries Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks. Pennant's travel books, describing his tours if Scotland in 1769 and 1772, and of Wales between 1778 and 1785, were essential guide-books for tourists who followed in his footsteps. They outlined the first tourist itineraries, and provided 'national descriptions' of the cultural, economic, and environmental condition of both countries, the first extensively illustrated documentation of Scotland and Wales.