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Coniston Water is five miles long, sits in a quiet valley on the western edge of the Lake District, and manages to be simultaneously one of the most beautiful lakes in the National Park and one of the most historically layered. The eastern shore is John Ruskin's shore — Brantwood, his house, overlooks the water. The western shore is Arthur Ransome's shore — Peel Island, the model for Wild Cat Island in Swallows and Amazons, sits in the southern part of the lake. And the lake itself is where Donald Campbell died in 1967, attempting to break his own water speed record in Bluebird K7.
These three histories — the art critic and social theorist, the children's author and former Russian spy, the speed record attempt — are not naturally connected. They share a lake and a period of English history (roughly 1860 to 1967) and a quality of intensity that the lake seems, over the years, to have attracted.
John Ruskin bought Brantwood on the eastern shore in 1871, without having visited it, on the grounds that any house on the edge of a lake in the Lake District could not be otherwise than beautiful. He was right. The view from Brantwood across the water to the Old Man of Coniston is one of the finest from any house in the Lakes.
He lived at Brantwood from 1872 until his death in 1900, working in the morning, walking in the afternoons and receiving the steady stream of visitors — artists, social reformers, students, admirers — who made the pilgrimage to see the most famous art critic in England. The house is now managed by a charitable trust and is open to visitors seasonally; it contains the largest collection of Ruskin's own drawings and watercolours in the world.
The view from the harbour below the house — looking south along the lake, with the western fells above the far shore and the Coniston water still in the early morning — is the view Ruskin was looking at from his study window for thirty years.
Arthur Ransome lived at various addresses near Coniston and Windermere in the 1920s and 30s and sailed on both lakes extensively. Peel Island — a small, wooded island near the southern end of Coniston Water — is generally accepted as the model for Wild Cat Island, the base of operations for the Swallows and Amazons children.
Ransome confirmed the identification in letters to correspondents; the hidden harbour on the southern shore of the island is recognisable from the descriptions in the books. The island is privately owned, but accessible by rowing boat from the western shore, and the hidden harbour can be approached from the water.
On 4 January 1967, Donald Campbell attempted to break his own water speed record on Coniston Water in Bluebird K7 — the jet-propelled hydroplane in which he had set and broken the water speed record multiple times. He achieved over 300 miles per hour on the first run but did not slow down before the return run as the rules required. On the return, at approximately 328 miles per hour, the boat became unstable and somersaulted. Campbell was killed. He was 45.
The wreck of Bluebird K7 and Campbell's body were recovered from the lake floor in 2001. Bluebird has been restored and is now on display at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston village. Campbell's helmet and other personal effects are in the museum alongside the hydroplane.
The Ruskin Museum is, inevitably, now as much a Donald Campbell museum as a Ruskin museum — the two collections coexist in the same building, making it one of the more unexpected cultural combinations in any small museum in England.
Coniston Water is quieter than Windermere and has no public motorised boat hire (Windermere is the only Lake District lake with a speed limit — all other lakes effectively regulate themselves by having far less traffic). The Coniston Launch, a wooden steam launch, operates a regular service and is one of the pleasures of a Coniston visit.
The Old Man of Coniston — the summit at 803 metres that dominates the head of the valley — is one of the most accessible of the Lake District's high fells. The ascent from Coniston village takes about two hours.
Coniston Water and its three extraordinary histories can be explored on a bespoke tour.