Haystacks was the favourite summit of influential guidebook author Alfred Wainwright. He neglected to name the fell as a whole in his best half-dozen at the end of the Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells because of inferior height, but stated that for beauty, variety and interesting detail, for sheer fascination and unique individuality, the summit area of Haystacks is supreme. This is in fact the best fell-top of all. Wainwright's ashes were scattered by his wife, Betty, near the shores of Innominate Tarn. In Buttermere's St James's Church, there is a memorial to Wainwright, and one can look out of the window to Haystacks.