Did the Swallows wear hats – and should they have worn them in the films of ‘Swallows and Amazons’?

Arthur Ransome wrote ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in 1929 when hats were worn in England, certainly in north Lancashire where the book is set. Would members of the Walker family have been wearing them?

When I took part in Claude Whatham’s movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’, made in the early 1970s, we were given school hats to wear when we arrived at Holly Howe in the opening sequence. While the boys had caps, I was given a straw hat but found it blew off when we ran down the field to the Peak at Darien where I spotted the island of my dreams. It ended up being quite a useful thing to hold in my hands.

In later books in the series such as Peter Duck, Missee Lee and Great Northern Arthur Ransome depicts the Swallows wearing white linen sunhats but these do not appear in the Lakeland books until the hot summer of Pigeon Post. It only seems to be the Amazons who wore hats in Swallows and Amazons.

I rather envied the warmth these provided out on the water but they could get hot. This is possibly because in 1973, when they were sourced locally by the second assistant director, they could have been made of acrylic rather than Westmorland wool.

The first knitted hats that turned up on our film set were pink, and quite a bright pink at that. This photo shows them being tried and rejected, which is why Nancy and Peggy are not wearing hats in the scenes set at Beckfoot.

It seems natural enough, shows them in a different light and works well when they are careening Amazon.

The second hats to arrived on set may not be have been exactly right in design but they weren’t too bad. Does anyone know if they were knitted specially and by whom?

Would the Amazons have removed their hats inside the houseboat? The great aunt would have certainly taken tea in her hat and this was a pirate feast.

Perhaps the fact that the Swallows don’t sail in hats adds accent to the Amazon pirates and Nancy triumphantly wearing hers.

My mother was given one of the pink rejects but wore a huge floral Donny Osmond cap on set.

She made me wear both a hat and sunscreen behind the scenes in an attempt to stave off sunstroke.

There were not many very sunny days but it was I who wore a hat at Beckfoot. I now prefer something with a wider brim and a string under the chin to ensure it doesn’t blow off and sink to the bottom of Derwentwater as my mother’s did.

You can listen to the audiobook on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ or find more behind-the-scenes stories in the paperback available online.