Posted by Peter Ceresole on June 02, 2015 at 08:21:58 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Beckfoot Promontary posted by Duncan on June 02, 2015 at 03:03:45:
I like Watbarrow Point as a contender too. Some of the drawings are quite unusual in that it appears to be quite a high treeless ridge.
Yes. As in all these cases, of course, we have to bear in mind that the main feature of all these places is that they should have made AR happy to think about them (since reading "The Last Englishman", I've come more and more to think that AR wrote the books not primarily to make money, although they certainly did that, but also to exorcise his personal demons by returning to his youth) but also, in a perfectly functional way, to drive on the stories. And having a bare promontory, on which the flag staff would stand out, but also having a clear view of the North end of the lake, was useful and helped make Beckfoot an even more central location in the stories. And I feel that this was AR's way of getting the spirit of Lanehead deep into the books, including his most significant "family", the Collies.
Of course, he also brought real places into the books, like Holly Howe/Bank Ground, where you can look at the "Swallows and Amazons" view on the webcam and actually see the field up which Roger tacks on page one of SA, or the Dog's Home, for which the illustrations and description are if anything more accurate than the photos now on line. And I do realise how much fun and interest there is in hunting down places that inspired him.
Post a followup (Only if you agree to the Terms and Conditions)