Recent Uploads tagged wraycastle, with geodata

The Fairfield Horseshoe from Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Wipeout Dave) — Sun, 12 May 2013 09:00:01 -0700

Wray Castle is a Victorian neo-gothic building at Claife in the English county of Cumbria. The house and grounds have belonged to the National Trust since 1929, but the house has only recently opened to the public on a regular basis. The grounds, which include part of the shoreline of Windermere, are open all year round and are renowned for their selection of specimen trees - Wellingtonia, redwood, Ginkgo biloba, weeping lime and varieties of beech.

The house was built in 1840 for a retired Liverpool surgeon, Dr. James Dawson, who built it along with the neighboring Wray Church using his wife's fortune. After Dawson's death in 1875 the estate was inherited by his nephew, Edward Preston Rawnsley. 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 Ruskin, conceived of a National Trust that could buy and preserve places of natural beauty and historic interest for the nation.

The house has an association with another key player in the National Trust, Beatrix Potter, who summered there when she was 16 in 1882. She bought nearby Hill Top in 1905 with royalties from her first few books. She bought considerable tracts of land in the area, including most of the land surrounding Wray Castle, though she never owned the castle itself. In 1929 Wray Castle and 64 acres (260,000 m2) of land were given to the National Trust by Sir Noton and Lady Barclay. Since the National Trust acquired the castle it has been used for a variety of purposes, including as a training centre. In 2011 the National Trust proposed to lease the property, which is denuded of its furnishings, for use as a hotel, but decided to open it to the public during the visitor season. High visitor numbers mean that the property, which is particularly child-friendly, is likely to remain open.

To find out more visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wray-castle/

Wray Castle Interior

nobody@flickr.com (Rum Bucolic Ape) — Sun, 05 May 2013 02:10:16 -0700

Rum Bucolic Ape posted a photo:

Unlike the exterior, the interior is fairly grand in places. The main entrance hall has many original features including attractive tessellated tiles and the simple but graceful woodwork. I'm not sure the cardboard knight bearing the logo 'shop' is either original nor in anyway correct.

The view from Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Richard Mackney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 08:44:33 -0700

Richard Mackney posted a photo:

The King at Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Richard Mackney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:54:18 -0700

Richard Mackney posted a photo:

A Knight at Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Richard Mackney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:53:00 -0700

Richard Mackney posted a photo:

Look up at Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Richard Mackney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:32:27 -0700

Richard Mackney posted a photo:

Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Richard Mackney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:22:55 -0700

Richard Mackney posted a photo:

Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Richard Mackney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 06:50:01 -0700

Richard Mackney posted a photo:

Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Rum Bucolic Ape) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:33:19 -0700

Rum Bucolic Ape posted a photo:

Owned by the National Trust since 1929 Wray Castle is a 19th century mock Gothic castle, now accurately described as a 'tired" building. There are traces of its former glory but it has not weather the last century well under a host of different institutional uses. The national trust are now spending significant amount of time restoring it.

James Dawson, a Liverpudlian surgeon, used his wife's fortune to build this fairly unique building on the west bank of windermere. It is full-blow Victorian architecural excess with a portcullis, turrets, battlements etc. The irony was that apparently his wife didn't like it. Nor did they have children. And in retirement, they lived in this huge place with 64 acres of landscaped gardens. A fairly big retirement home, in effect, though he did spend 30-odd years retired here.

It does have tenuous link with famous photography; Beatrix Potter's family summered here in 1882 when she was age 16. Her father Rupert was a keen amateur snapper and his extensive collection of plates document the former grandeur of this place. To rent out a whole castle for a summer is pretty posh, eh?

And in turn, we visited on a blustery cold morning. Such places demand gratuitous use of fisheye lenses. I wonder what old Mr Potter would have made of my interpretation of the place?

15th February 2013

nobody@flickr.com (Rob Sutherland) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:42:52 -0800

Rob Sutherland posted a photo:

Taken whilst out for a walk with Jen, Lachlan, Hamish and Jake this afternoon from Balla Wray to Wray Castle along the shore of Lake Windermere. Nice to see some sunshine for a change!

Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:54 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

Wray Castle is a mock-gothic mansion of the 1840s on the western side of Lake Windermere. Massive and very solid in a wholly victorian way, designed by an amateur architect who apparently drank himself to death before it was completed.

The National Trust owns the castle. It was most recently used as a training centre for a telecommunications company (and still has antennae sprouting from the roofs) but has been empty for some time. A refurbishment proposal as a luxury hotel fell through, presumably due to the current state of the economy. For the moment the Trust is experimentally opening the unrestored and empty house to visitors while it decides what to do next.

The people selling tickets and guides told me the castle was very popular with families: somewhere out of the weather where they could use their imaginations and didn't have to worry about bumping into precious things.

Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:55 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

At Wray Castle - looking across Lake Windermere

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:58 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

At Wray Castle - looking across Lake Windermere

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:58 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

At Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:55 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:53 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

Ode to Windows XP

nobody@flickr.com (AbhijeetVardhan) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 01:46:26 -0800

AbhijeetVardhan posted a photo:

Well, there have been many things/people that have been a source of inspiration to me during my quest to learn a bit of photography. One of the initial sources of inspiration were the various landscape backgrounds on the Windows XP desktops! I have always wondered about the beautiful places and scenes shown in those backgrounds.

While visiting the Wray Castle in the Lake District, the adjacent fields reminded me of one these backgrounds and I had to stop, take a pause and to capture the wonderful view.

Have a great journey in 2013 to wherever your inspirations might take you!

Wray Castle was built as a large private house at Claife in the English county of Cumbria, in the Gothic Revival style in 1840. In its lifetime, the castle has been used for a variety of purposes, including as a training centre, and is now a National Trust property.

Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:55 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

The National Trust were working on the roofs when I visited. The scaffolding poles along the battlements seemed to me to have a suitably defensive air.

At Wray Castle - looking across Lake Windermere

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:56 -0800

Dubris posted a photo:

The shadows of clouds over the hills caught my eye.

At Wray Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Dubris) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:20:57 -0800

Dubris posted a photo: