{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{Short description|Castle in Cumbria, England}} {{Infobox museum | name = Wray Castle | logo = | logo_upright = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | image = Wray Castle 2008.jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Wray Castle: its gothic features include fake [[arrowslit]]s | coordinates = {{coord|54.4006345|-2.9641913|format=dms|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | former_name = | established = {{Start date|2011}} | dissolved = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | location = [[Claife]], [[Westmorland and Furness]], [[Cumbria]] | type = | accreditation = | key_holdings = | collections = | collection_size = | visitors = | founder = | director = | president = | ceo = | chairperson = | curator = | architect = | historian = | owner = [[National Trust]] | public_transit = See website | parking = | network = | website = {{url|www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wray-castle}} | embedded = {{Infobox designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Grade II* | designation1_offname = R.M.S. Wray Castle | designation1_date = 25 March 1970 | designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1106324|short=yes}} | designation2 = Grade II | designation2_free1name = Listings | designation2_free1value = '''5''' including Retaining Walls and Boathouse | designation2_date = | designation2_number = }} }}
'''Wray Castle''' is a Victorian [[Gothic Revival architecture|neo-gothic]] building at [[Claife]] in [[Cumbria]] within the boundaries of the [[Historic counties of England|historic county]] of [[Lancashire]]. The house and grounds have belonged to the [[National Trust]] since 1929. The Castle was open to the public for a dozen years prior to 2024. The Castle is now closed for refurbishment until 2027. <ref name=attraction/><ref>For information on opening times and dates [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wray-castle/ see the National Trust website]</ref>
While the castle and its ancillary buildings are protected under the [[National Heritage List for England]], the grounds are not registered as a historic park or garden. The estate lies within the [[Lake District]] National Park, itself a [[UNESCO]] [[List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom|World Heritage Site]], which provides landscape‑level recognition. The grounds, which include part of the shoreline of [[Windermere]], are open all year round and are renowned for their selection of specimen trees. The planting of [[Conifer|conifers]] (including [[Sequoiadendron giganteum|Wellingtonia]]) reflects the thinking of the Picturesque movement.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wildlife Gardening with Ruth at Wray Castle |url=https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/guest-blogger/wildlife-gardening-ruth-wray-castle |website=Newsletter of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust}}</ref> There are also examples of ''[[Ginkgo biloba]]'', [[Tilia|weeping lime]] and varieties of [[beech]].
==History of the Castle== The house was built in 1840 for a retired [[Liverpool|Liverpudlian]] surgeon, James Dawson, who built it along with the neighbouring Wray Church using his wife's fortune.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wray Castle {{!}} Lake District |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/lake-district/wray-castle |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=National Trust |language=en}}</ref> After Dawson's death in 1875, the estate was inherited by his fifteen-year-old nephew, Edward Preston Rawnsley.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wray Castle, the National Trust, and Peter Rabbit (Background: Claife) {{!}} Cumbria County History Trust |url=https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/wray-castle-national-trust-and-peter-rabbit-background-claife |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk}}</ref> In 1877 Edward's cousin, [[Hardwicke Rawnsley]], took up the appointment of vicar of Wray Church. To protect the countryside from damaging development, Hardwicke Rawnsley, building on an idea propounded by [[John Ruskin]], conceived of a National Trust that could buy and preserve places of natural beauty and historic interest for the nation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley {{!}} History |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/people/hardwicke-rawnsley-defender-of-the-lakes |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=National Trust |language=en}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Wray Castle |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/lake-district/wray/history-of-wray-castle}}</ref>
===Connection with Beatrix Potter=== [[File:Wray Castle, Windermere.jpg|thumb|left|Beatrix Potter aged 16 stayed here in 1882 on a family holiday, beginning her long association with the [[Lake District]].]] The house has an association with another key player in the National Trust, [[Beatrix Potter]], who spent a summer holiday there when she was 16 in 1882.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wray Castle, the National Trust, and Peter Rabbit (Background: Claife) {{!}} Cumbria County History Trust |url=https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/wray-castle-national-trust-and-peter-rabbit-background-claife |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Library at Wray Castle |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1241441/library-at-wray-castle-watercolour-beatrix-potter/}}</ref> She bought a small farm in the Claife area, [[Hill Top, Cumbria|Hill Top]], in 1905 with royalties from her first book, ''[[The Tale of Peter Rabbit]]''. She went on to buy considerable tracts of land nearby, though she never owned the castle itself. When Potter died in 1943, she left 4,000 acres of land and fourteen farms to the care of the National Trust.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Beatrix Potter |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/people/beatrix-potter |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=National Trust |language=en}}</ref>
===Later occupants=== In 1929 Wray Castle and {{convert|64|acre|m2}} of land were given to the National Trust by [[Robert Noton Barclay|Sir Noton and Lady Barclay]], the owners at that time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Castrum to Castle - the history of Wray Castle |url=https://castrumtocastle.com/english-castles/ambleside-wray-castle/}}</ref>
The castle has been subject to a variety of uses since it was acquired by the National Trust, including a brief period as a youth hostel in 1929. <ref>{{cite book |title=Biological studies of the English lakes |url=https://archive.org/details/biologicalstudie0000maca |url-access=registration |last=Townley Macan |first=Thomas |year=1970 |publisher=Longman |page=[https://archive.org/details/biologicalstudie0000maca/page/22 22]}}</ref> For twenty years from 1931 the castle housed the offices of the [[Freshwater Biological Association]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://aquaticcommons.org/4560/1/EBWorthington.pdf |last=Worthington|first=E. B.|authorlink=E. Barton Worthington|title=The Freshwater Biological Association at Wray Castle: Recollections of its first director |work=Freshwater Forum |volume=1 |issue=1 |issn=0961-4664 |year=1991 |pages=24–28 |accessdate=15 August 2013}}</ref>
[[File:RMSWrayCastle.JPG|thumbnail|The Badge of "RMS Wray Castle" (as worn by some cadets during Merchant Navy College days)]]From 1958 to 1998 it became a training college for [[Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)|Merchant Navy]] radio officers ([[RMS Wray Castle]]), with up to 150 cadets living in the castle while studying the procedures and regulations regarding the use of radio for the "Safety of Life at Sea".<ref>{{cite book |last=Sharp |first=Paul |last2=Hatt |first2=E.M. |title=Follies |publisher=Taplinger Publishing |year=1965 |page=105}}</ref> The [[Global Maritime Distress and Safety System]], or GMDSS, was introduced in 1988 and all ships had to be fitted by 1999, thus bringing to an end the position of radio officer. In 1995 the last 'Radio Officer' left, and the college diversified into ROV and general telecoms training, continuing to use the name Wray Castle Limited.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Wray Castle - 5G, 4G LTE, IP, PMR Telecoms Technology Training Courses|url=https://wraycastle.com/|access-date=2021-10-26|website=Wray Castle|language=en}}</ref> Wray Castle Limited continues to issue GMDSS licenses as part of its role operating the national administration centre<ref>{{Cite web|title=AMERC - Contact Us|url=https://www.amerc.ac.uk/contact.php|access-date=2021-10-26|website=www.amerc.ac.uk}}</ref> on behalf of AMERC (Association of Marine Electronic and Radio Colleges), relocating away from the Castle in 2004.
===Marine legacy=== Two ships were named after Wray Castle, both built for the Lancashire Shipping Company (also known as The Castle Line) of James Chalmers & Co. The first was one of five large sailing vessels built at the Williamson shipyard at [[Workington]], the others being ''Greystoke Castle'', ''Lancaster Castle'', ''Lowther Castle'' and ''Pendragon Castle''. The ''Wray Castle'' was the fourth to be built, a steel ocean-going [[Full-rigged ship|three-masted ship]] of 1,937 gross registered tonnage (GRT), launched in March 1889.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sailing Vessel WRAY CASTLE built by Richard Williamson & Son in 1889 for Wray Castle Ship Co. Ltd. - W. J. Chambers, Liverpool, Cargo |url=http://shippingandshipbuilding.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&a1Order=Sorter_owner_1&a1Dir=DESC&a1Page=10&ref=219853&vessel=WRAY+CASTLE |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=shippingandshipbuilding.uk}}</ref> The ship had a long career, surviving a serious fire in its hold in 1906 and was eventually wrecked on the islands off [[Coronel, Chile]], in 1924. The second ''Wray Castle'' was a [[steamship]] of 4,253 GRT built by William Hamilton of Glasgow in 1938. She was torpedoed and sunk off Freetown, West Africa, on May 3 1941.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ships hit by u-boats - Wray Castle, British steam merchant |url=https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/897.html}}</ref>
==Access== In 2011 the National Trust proposed to lease the property, which had been denuded of its furnishings, for use as a hotel.<ref name="WG">{{cite web | url=http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/9065462.Last_peek_at_Wray_Castle_before_it___s_a_hotel/ | title=Last peek at Wray Castle before it's a hotel | work=[[Westmorland Gazette]] | date=2011 | accessdate=8 April 2014}}</ref> However, they decided to open it to the public during the visitor season that year. High visitor numbers meant that the property, which in its empty state was particularly child-friendly, had clear potential to be developed as a visitor attraction. In 2014 the Trust applied for retrospective planning permission to change the use of the listed building to a visitor attraction.<ref name=attraction>{{cite news|url=http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/historic-lake-district-home-aims-to-be-official-attraction-1.1128685|title=Historic Lake District home aims to be official attraction|newspaper=[[North West Evening Mail]]|date=11 April 2014|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20140527220107/http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/historic-lake-district-home-aims-to-be-official-attraction-1.1128685|archivedate=27 May 2014}}</ref> [[File:"Princess of the Lake" at Wray Castle jetty (geograph 3537252).jpg|thumb]] Between March and October, [[Windermere Lake Cruises]] operates a passenger boat service on Windermere from [[Ambleside]] and the [[Brockhole National Park Visitor Centre]] to Wray Castle.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/cruises-fares/green-cruise |title=Green Cruise |publisher=Windermere Lake Cruises |accessdate=12 June 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612115858/https://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/cruises-fares/green-cruise |archivedate=12 June 2018 |url-status = live}}</ref>
==Related buildings== About a decade after the construction of the castle, the Dawsons built the church of Saint Margaret to serve the spiritual needs of the family and its employees. The architecture of the church has a Gothic Revival aesthetic, and the church tower is similar to the castle.
The church is normally closed, but it is occasionally opened for [[Heritage Open Days]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=See inside St Margaret's Church on the Wray estate |url=https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/submission-event/see-inside-st-margaret-s-church-on-the-wray-estate.html |access-date=December 11, 2025}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Cumbria}} * [[Grade II* listed buildings in Westmorland and Furness]] * [[Listed buildings in Claife]] * [[Hawkshead and Claife]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Wray Castle}} * [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wray-castle/ National Trust – Wray Castle] * [http://www.visitcumbria.com/amb/wray-castle/ Ambleside – Wray Castle] * [http://freespace.virgin.net/r.cadwalader/maritime/square/Thomas.htm Gwynedd Maritime Database – Fleet of R.Thomas & Co of Criccieth and Liverpool]
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[[Category:Beatrix Potter]] [[Category:British Merchant Navy]] [[Category:Country houses in Cumbria]] [[Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Cumbria]] [[Category:Grade II* listed houses in Cumbria]] [[Category:Mock castles in England]] [[Category:National Trust properties in the Lake District]] [[Category:Tourist attractions in Cumbria]] [[Category:Youth hostels in England and Wales]]