Coniston Water G. Collingwood wrote a historical novel "Thorstein of the Mere" about the Northmen who settled on the island in the lake. The Victorian and Edwardian artist Henry Robinson Hall settled in Coniston during the Great War and is buried in the parish church graveyard. Arthur Ransome set his children's novel "Swallows and Amazons" and the sequels "Swallowdale", "Winter Holiday", "Pigeon Post" and "The Picts and the Martyrs" around a fictional lake derived from a combination of Coniston Water and Windermere. The fictional lake resembles Windermere, but the surrounding hills and fells resemble those of Coniston Water. Some of Coniston Water's
Swallows and Amazons series seaman", is the most imaginative member of the crew. She often imagines her own adventures and becomes a hero in the novels, such as when she wins the war in "Swallows and Amazons" or finds an underground spring in "Pigeon Post". Roger is the youngest, originally the ship's boy, but promoted to able seaman in later books. Their youngest sister Bridget (originally nicknamed "Vicky" due to a resemblance to pictures of Queen Victoria in old age; the nickname is dropped in later books as she loses the resemblance when she grows older) also joins the crew in "Secret Water". Roger