Wray
OS Grid ref:- SD3799
Wray consists of the hamlets of High and Low Wray which lie amidst stunning scenery on the north-west bank of Lake Windermere. It lies to the east of the B5286 road to Hawkshead from Ambleside.
Sir Henry Segrave died at Belle Grange, a house on the shores of Windermere at High Wray, on 13th June, 1930, when his boat crashed whilst attempting to break a world water speed record on Lake Windermere. One of his mechanics was also killed.
Wray Castle is an imposing building, with its dramatic turrets which rise above the trees and dominate the landscape, it was constructed in the then fashionable Victorian Gothic Revival Style between 1840 and 1847, for Dr James Dawson, a retired Liverpool surgeon, whose wife had inherited a fortune from the gin business. He also built neighbouring Wray Church as a chapel 'for the spiritual benefit of his ' family, retainers, estate workers, servants and friends'. A path leads from the castle along the west shore of Windermere to the Sawrey landing of the Windermere ferry.