Posted by Iain on May 24, 2006 at 17:34:10 from 194.66.208.11 user Bulldozerman.
In Reply to: Re: Acronyms, and 'Huyton Hill' posted by PeterH on May 24, 2006 at 16:57:56:
You ask:
What is its significance, if any, in the Ransome world? You have never heard of it, and it's possible some other Tarboarders haven't either. You know 'Huyton' as a district of Liverpool, but as with the American TU You am no doubt way off course.
Get a map of Lake Windermere and relate it to the map on the inside front cover of the books. Holly How on the map is inland of Bowness Bay. Follow the persuit of the Amazons up Lake Windermere from Silverholme which stands in for Peel Island until you end up on the west coast directly opposite Lake Head Pier at Ambleside. AR's favourite restaurant is the Waterhead Hotel which faces out onto this view.
Up to about 10 years ago you could see on the opposite shore a house in its grounds that matches the description of Beckfoot in everything except the house. Even the map by AR and the real estate in WH match. The trees have blocked the view almost totally off by now. AR in his diaries passed by it on the way to the Brathay, clearly working on locations for WH. He used the lake shore there for many of his drawings including Octopus Lagoon and the famous chapter headpiece showing the Amazons Boathouse with its skull and crossbones and Beckfoot in the background. It was clearly drawn from Pull Beck Bay. The river does come out where the Amazon in the drawings does. The "Steamer" House is at the mouth of the Beck. That is where the "Becfoot Motor Launch" was berthed for real as well as in the book. The "Amazons Boat House" really did contain the girls sailing dinghy which belonged to their father. I assume it was inherited from their Grandfather, or a replacement. The Octopus Lagoon is according to the map a ghost of a lake surviving from the Ice age. It does have the meanders and reeds just like the drawings.
It was another TARS member that told me it has been known about by TARS members for years. Many have tried to sail up the Amazon (Pull Beck)and failed. At most there is usually only a foot of water, unlike last year when the beck was in flood.
It used to be Pull Wood House until a school from Huyton Hill in Liverpool was evacuated there before WW2. They renamed the house and the pupils, all AR fans are supposed to have put a Skull and Crossbones on the boathouse. They were photographed doing this, although I have yet to find a copy of the picture.
George Pattinson who owned "Esperance" owned the house before this and bought the house from The Crossley Girls Father. It nearly became the WSM.
The pupils believed they were at school in Beckfoot and this was the Amazons Boathouse. Evgenia Ransome has written about it in a published letter, in which she associated it with Beckfoot.
If my Crossley research is correct and local museums, libraries, and local people queried suggest that I am, then the school kids were closer to the truth than they realised. The big question is why and what is the connection between this place and AR.
Hope that answers your question.