LAKE District copper mines that enjoyed the patronage of Queen Elizabeth l and inspired storyteller Arthur Ransome could be conserved thanks to a major funding boost.

The "nationally important" mine workings that honeycomb Coniston's Coppermines Valley have passed the first stage of a bid for more than £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Dating back at least 400 years, the copper mines are spread across 57 hectares between Coniston Water and Coniston Old Man.

They are classed as a Scheduled Monument by English Heritage, and their decaying state has seen them placed on its Heritage at Risk Register.

The bid to preserve the mines and tell their story through community projects, underground tours, school visits, information panels and maybe a smartphone app is a partnership between the Lake District National Park Authority, land owners The Rydal Estate and Philip Johnston, Coniston's Ruskin Museum and the Cumbria Amenity Trust Mining History Society.

"Despite the magnitude of their industrial importance, they are at risk of continuing decline and dereliction," said Eleanor Kingston, LDNPA strategy and partnership adviser.

"Not only will this give us a unique chance to preserve an exceptional mining heritage, it also provides opportunities for people to find out more and really get involved."

As Vicky Slowe, curator of the Ruskin Museum explained, expert miners were brought in from Germany and Austria during the late 16th century after Queen Elizabeth l set up a company to exploit Coniston's mineral riches.

Copper was tediously extracted by hand from solid volcanic rock, using chisels by the light of tallow candles, and the primary ore was brassy yellow-coloured chalcopyrite, similar to fool's gold.

In the 19th century, when the mines employed around 600 people, the mineral was used for copper-bottoming ships' hulls, to protect wood from rotting.

By the time Arthur Ransome published Pigeon Post in 1936, the copper mines were nearing the end of their working life. They inspired the ever-popular Swallows and Amazons adventure in which holidaying children prospect for gold at High Topps, which turns out to be copper.

"The setting is most definitely in the Coniston fells and a bit of a mixture of the Coppermines Valley and Tilberthwaite Valley," said Vicky Slowe.

"I'm delighted that attention is being paid to the industrial heritage of this area. People think of it as a picturesque, romantic landscape and forget that for most of the time since the ice melted it's actually been very industrial."

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given £16,000 to pay for detailed work in the run-up to the funding bid, and if it is successful conservation work could start next summer.