Swallows and Amazons Series - Settings

Settings

The Swallows and Amazons series is of particular interest because of its close association with reality. Extensive elements of both the characters and settings can be traced back to incidents in Ransome's life and are the raw material for much discussion and theorising about precise relationships. This feature contributes so strongly to the air of absolute authenticity of the series that some readers may be upset to find that occasional minor items did not actually exist in precisely the form that they are described!

The original Swallows and Amazons and four later books in the series are set in and around an unnamed lake in the English Lake District. Most of the unfinished Coots in the North would also have been set on the lake had Ransome completed it before his death. The lake and the surrounding fells are based on an amalgam of Windermere and Coniston Water, places where Ransome spent much of his childhood and later life. Many places in the books can be identified with real locations in the area, though Ransome has modified the real location in producing his fictional setting. Generally, the geography of the lake resembles Windermere (though Wild Cat Island has a number of important elements from Peel Island on Coniston Water) while the fells and hills surrounding it more resemble the area around Coniston.

Although considered an integral part of the Swallows and Amazons series and linked by the presence of the Callums, the books Coot Club and The Big Six do not feature either the Walkers (Swallows) or the Blacketts (Amazons). They are set in an accurate representation of the Norfolk Broads, particularly the small village of Horning and its surrounding rivers and broads. Coots in the North also begins in the Broads before moving to the lake in the north.

We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea and Secret Water are set in coastal Suffolk and Essex, with the former involving a voyage to Flushing, Netherlands and the latter the exploration of the islands of Hamford Water near Walton-on-the-Naze.

The books Peter Duck and Missee Lee involve voyages of the schooner Wildcat to the Caribbean and the South China Sea. These stories appear to be metafictional with respect to the rest of the series, and were originally planned by Ransome (see below) as stories written by the children. The final published works, however, are presented simply as continuing adventures in the series, though different in a number of ways. Most obvious is the inclusion of a limited level of fear and violence which is noticeably absent from other stories in the series. Both books are described as "based on information supplied by the Swallows and Amazons" on their title pages, a description which is absent from the rest of the books in the series.

Two abandoned chapters of Peter Duck (called Their Own Story) were found in Ransome's papers held in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. They describe the story of Peter Duck being made-up by the Walkers and Blacketts on a wherry in the Norfolk Broads during the winter following the events described in Swallows and Amazons. This composition was later referenced in Swallowdale, but not in Peter Duck itself.

The final complete book, Great Northern? is set in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. This book is sometimes included with Peter Duck and Missee Lee as metafictional because the story would involve the children being away from school during the nesting season which is during term time. Another reason is the use of firearms (which is reasonable in the context of the plot but seems to be at odds with the more peaceful adventures of most of the rest of the series).