NOT many will have heard of Paddy, Trilby and Biddy Wells - sisters who grew up in West Yorkshire in the early 20th century.

Yet the trio, from the tiny hamlet of Denton near Ilkley, were destined to become involved in mountaineering history.

They were known by their nicknames: Paddy, whose real name was Annie - Trilby (real name Emily) and Biddy (Sarah Ellen).

The sisters took up mountaineering at the start of the 20th century, at a time when more and more women were taking to the mountains, both as climbers and walkers. In the second half of the 19th century women received little support for, and often and often opposition to, their climbing, but this changed and gradually more men accepted women as climbers.

From an early age Paddy, Trilby and Biddy were drawn to the hills. ‘It is not surprising that people from this area should be interested in exploring and enjoying the countryside - it was all around them,’ writes author Dennis Wynne-Jones, a former teacher in Wharfedale, who has drawn upon many sources to research the lives of the three women.

Throughout their lives they climbed in Wharfedale, the Lake District, North Wales, Scotland and the Alps.

Trilby and Biddy were members of an all-female party who made the first complete traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye.

‘Those of us who have experienced the traverse in the latter part of the 20th century can well understand the immensity of their achievement,” writes Wynne Jones. ‘They carried a small rucksack between them and a half-weight rope, for the short upward pitches and the abseils on the ridge.’

The book includes the family’s involvement in the first female descent of Gaping Ghyll in the Yorkshire Dales and the first to successfully climb all the Scottish Munros.

The women were members of many climbing clubs, most notably the Pinnacle Club, of which Paddy became secretary. Formed in 1921, it was the first all-female mountaineering club in England. It held dinners at different venues across the country followed by entertainment including songs, sketches and music.

It is important to bear in mind the cost of equipment and accommodation, plus the leisure time needed to make climbs across the UK and in Europe. Only those of the professional class - of which Paddy, Trilby and Biddy were examples - could afford it.

The sisters all became teachers and when war broke out Trilby and Biddy were working at Margaret Macmillan School in Bradford. Trilby went on to become head of the school.

She fought to improve welfare for children across Bradford, and introduce a varied curriculum for youngsters to improve their health and development. She also made visits to families, to orphanages and children’s homes. Her ‘able deputy’ at the school and in other areas of her work, was sister Biddy, in a reversal of their roles on the crags.

The sisters, who had links to the Church of St John in ben Rhydding, often found satisfaction in ‘long weekend walks on Ilkley Moor and in Wharfedale.’

When they were not longer able to visit the Alps due to post-war travel restrictions they could still climb in summer and winter on the crags of Snowdonia.

*Climbers Three by Dennis Wynne-Jones is published by Fisher King Publishing priced £12.99, available to order at bookshops and online.