No Boats on Bannermere
Encyclopedia
No Boats on Bannermere is a 1949 children's novel by Geoffrey Trease
, and the first of his five Bannerdale novels. They are school stories set in Cumberland, in the Lake District
.
William and Susan transfer to schools at Winthwaite five miles away, a boy’s grammar school and a county secondary school. Bill befriends Tim Darren and Sue befriends Penelope (Penny) Morchard at their respective schools. Bill finds that Cousin Fay also owns a rowboat and they row to the island of Brant Holm in the lake. But the owner of Bannermere Hall stops his tenant the farmer Mr Tyler leasing them the boathouse by the lake. Sir Alfred Askew only bought the property last year when he retired from India, but is determined to play the local squire, complete with monocle.
They suspect Sir Alfred of something, go into his woods, and find that he has uncovered an ancient buried skeleton on the lakeside. There are actually five skeletons, possibly from the 9th century during the period of Viking raids, and Sir Alfred has not notified the police of the find. An inquest is held. Later when Bill sees an aerial photo of the lake, he sees shading indicating a burial on the island in the lake. They investigate, and uncover a buried skeleton, but are interrupted by Sir Alfred and his friend Matson an antique-dealer. There are also some silver dishes and flagons, probably the monastery treasure mentioned in an old chronicle of St Coloumbs Abbey in Yorkshire. At the inquest they are deemed treasure trove, as the skeleton was Christian and buried facing east with hands crossed on the breast (as proved by Tim’s photo). As finders the four get three hundred pounds reward each. Sir Alfred claimed it could have been a heathen burial by Norsemen with the items buried publicly; as at Sutton Hoo
the items would not be treasure trove but would belong to the landowner. Matson would have sold them for a high price in America.
while waiting to be called up:
Trease talked on children’s books, and went to Millom
in west Cumberland. He was approached after a lecture for (largely unappreciative) schoolchildren:
Geoffrey Trease
Geoffrey Trease was a prolific writer, publishing 113 books between 1934 and 1997 . His work has been translated into 20 languages...
, and the first of his five Bannerdale novels. They are school stories set in Cumberland, in the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
.
Plot summary
William Melbury and his younger sister Susan (Sue) live with their mother in the south of England, in furnished rooms. His mother inherits a cottage from her second cousin; but only if she lives in it for five years. Cousin Fay disliked week-enders and wanted Beckfoot Cottage to be lived in. So they move from the south of England to the cottage in Bannermere, Upper Bannerdale.William and Susan transfer to schools at Winthwaite five miles away, a boy’s grammar school and a county secondary school. Bill befriends Tim Darren and Sue befriends Penelope (Penny) Morchard at their respective schools. Bill finds that Cousin Fay also owns a rowboat and they row to the island of Brant Holm in the lake. But the owner of Bannermere Hall stops his tenant the farmer Mr Tyler leasing them the boathouse by the lake. Sir Alfred Askew only bought the property last year when he retired from India, but is determined to play the local squire, complete with monocle.
They suspect Sir Alfred of something, go into his woods, and find that he has uncovered an ancient buried skeleton on the lakeside. There are actually five skeletons, possibly from the 9th century during the period of Viking raids, and Sir Alfred has not notified the police of the find. An inquest is held. Later when Bill sees an aerial photo of the lake, he sees shading indicating a burial on the island in the lake. They investigate, and uncover a buried skeleton, but are interrupted by Sir Alfred and his friend Matson an antique-dealer. There are also some silver dishes and flagons, probably the monastery treasure mentioned in an old chronicle of St Coloumbs Abbey in Yorkshire. At the inquest they are deemed treasure trove, as the skeleton was Christian and buried facing east with hands crossed on the breast (as proved by Tim’s photo). As finders the four get three hundred pounds reward each. Sir Alfred claimed it could have been a heathen burial by Norsemen with the items buried publicly; as at Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo, near to Woodbridge, in the English county of Suffolk, is the site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries. One contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance, now held in the British...
the items would not be treasure trove but would belong to the landowner. Matson would have sold them for a high price in America.
Bannermere and Bannerdale
In the series, the hamlet of Bannermere is in Upper Bannerdale, and on Bannermere, a lake. Black Banner, a 2783 foot mountain is across the lake. Trease wrote about Bannerdale that in 1940 when he went to teach at a private school in Gosford three miles inland from SeascaleSeascale
Seascale is a village and civil parish on the Irish Sea coast of Cumbria in north-west England.-History:The place-name indicates that it was inhabited by Norse settlers, probably before 1000 AD. It is derived from skali, meaning in Norse a wooden hut or shelter...
while waiting to be called up:
- I had come, all unknowing, to Bannerdale, about which, in the years to come, I was going to write. ... Bannermere will not be found on any map. There is a Banner Dale, scarcely more than a mile long, just east of Saddleback and Bannerdale CragsBannerdale CragsBannerdale Crags is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands between Blencathra and Bowscale Fell in the Northern Fells.-Topography:Bannerdale Crags is a ridge running north west to south east...
looking down on it, but I have never seen them. My own Bannerdale, with its lake and forbidden islet and its sombre mountain Black Banner lowering over it is one of those private fantasy regions that authors, and especially children’s authors love to create. It is a pastiche, three parts WasdaleWasdaleWasdale is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwater, the deepest lake in England...
, one part EskdaleEskdale, CumbriaEskdale is a glacial valley and civil parish in the western Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It forms part of the Borough of Copeland, and has a population of 264....
, with bits and pieces from elsewhere. The ‘Gates of Bannerdale’ were taken from the Jaws of BorrowdaleBorrowdaleBorrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England.Borrowdale lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland, and is sometimes referred to as Cumberland Borrowdale in order to distinguish it from another Borrowdale in the...
, ‘Black Banner’ was suggested by the real mountain, Black SailsBlack SailsBlack Sails EP is an extended play by American rock band AFI. It was released on April 27, 1999 through Nitro Records. Only 5,000 copies were pressed. It is a sampler of the band's fourth studio album Black Sails in the Sunset.-Background:...
, and my little town of ‘Winthwaite’ is CockermouthCockermouth-History:The Romans created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall....
, shifted southwards for literary convenience ... Nowadays ... it does not ‘exist merely in my own mind’ but exists also in the minds of a lot of people who, in childhood or later, have read the stories I laid there. Not only British children, but – oddly and gratifyingly – Japanese, Swedes, Brazilians and others equally remote.
Social setting
Trease is known for his children’s historical novels, but the Bannerdale novels are school stories set in the present and in day schools. The novel revolves around two boys and two girls. Bill and Sue’s mother is divorced or separated and wears slacks: It’s not every chap’s mother who can wear them. Mum can. The book only mentions family difficulties, which meant several moves. Kingsland, the Grammar headmaster, is old-fashioned, but caring of his pupils. He disdains the County Sec, but finds that Miss Florey, the headmistress, has worked for an archaeologist he admires. William is in the middle school at the Grammar, and notices that Penny is attractive (Tim does not). William wants to be an author, and buys a typewriter from his share of the reward.Trease talked on children’s books, and went to Millom
Millom
Millom is a town and civil parish on the estuary of the River Duddon in the southwest of Cumbria, England. The name is Cumbrian dialect for "At the mills". The town is accessible both by rail and an A class road...
in west Cumberland. He was approached after a lecture for (largely unappreciative) schoolchildren:
- Two schoolgirls buttonholed me afterwards. ‘Do you ever write school stories?’ ‘No’ I said. ‘Haven’t you got enough already? All those midnight feasts in the dorm, those secret passages and hooded figures -’ They cut me off with grave courtesy, ‘They didn’t mean that stuff. Why didn’t I write true-to-life stories, about real boys and girls, going to day-schools as nearly everybody did? No one seemed to write that sort.’ Out of that five-minute conversation came, a year or two later, No Boats on Bannermere and eventually its four sequels, three hundred thousand words, the writing spread intermittently over nine years, I was glad I had been to Millom.
Bannerdale novels
The five novels in the Bannerdale series are:- No Boats on Bannermere (HeinemannHeinemann (book publisher)Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by William Heinemann in Covent Garden, London in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday. It was later acquired by commemorate Thomas Tilling in 1961...
) (1949) - Under Black Banner (Heinemann) (1951)
- Black Banner Players (Heinemann) (1952)
- Black Banner Abroad (Heinemann) (1954)
- The Gates of Bannerdale (Heinemann) (1956)