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 (1974 film) named "Swallow", they meet the Blackett children (Nancy and Peggy) who sail a dinghy named "Amazon". The Walkers camp on an island in the lake while the Blacketts live in their house nearby. However, they soon realise this has been the territory of the two other girls who sail the "Amazon", and the scene is set for serious rivalry. Eventually they make friends and agree to join forces against a common enemy – the Blacketts' Uncle Jim whom they call "Captain Flint" (after the character in "Treasure Island"). Uncle Jim, normally an ally of his nieces, has withdrawn from their