Introduction
Two of the boats owned by Arthur Ransome were built by Crossfields. They built Swallow around 1912. She was brought by Arthur Ransome in 1928 for the Altounyan children to sail whilst on holiday on Coniston. Coch-y-bonndhu was built by Crossfields in 1934 for Arthur Ransome. Peggy Blackett is a replica of Coch-y-bonndhu built in 2000. There is more about the individual boats below
Boats in Arthur Ransome Boats
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History
In many ways Swallow and Coch-y-bonndhu are typical of the smaller sailing dinghies built by Crossfields in Arnside.
Arthur Ransome (1884 – 1967) is best known for his children’s adventure stories based on sailing. His most famous book is Swallows and Amazons (1930). He worked as newspaper correspondent in Russia during the First World War and Bolshevik Revolution and may have been a spy. His second wife Evgenia was Trotsky’s secretary. He was born in Leeds, educated at Rugby School and is buried in the Lake District at Rusland. He holidayed in the Lake District as a child and young man. He lived in the Lake District on and off from 1925 onwards.