Posted by Robert Howes on September 09, 1999 at 20:26:42 from 62.136.125.148 via proxy webcacheW07a.cache.pol.co.uk:
In Reply to: Re: Wild Cat Island posted by Adam Quinan on September 09, 1999 at 01:55:41:
Yes, in 'AR and Captain Flint's Trunk' Christina Hardyment says that it appears that the fictional lake of 'Swallows and Amazons' is mainly Windermere, with some of the places around Coniston Water being the houses around the fictional lake. Arthur Ransome also wrote in a letter to someone that Wildcat island was a mixture of the best patrs of two islands he knew. I think this is the case and Blake Holme on Windermere was Wildcat island with the harbour from Peel island tacked on. But I also think that the secret harbour is the most important part of Wildcat island, it makes it a more special place, and Swallows and Amazons would be a very different book if it wasn't for the harbour. Peel island cannot be dismissed as not being Wildcat island, it is after all where the Altounyans (the 'real' Swallows) went to play, it just wasn't big enough for them to camp on. Peel island is also important becasue it features in 'Thorstein of the Mere' by W.G.Collingwood which was one of Ransomes favourite books as a child.
Peel island may not be truely Wildcat island as the true place does not really exist, but I think it is the heart of Wildcat island.