 It was built in 1728 by Anthony Wilson and his wife Dorothy.They "owned and farmed much of the land across the Hawkshead, Coniston and Langdale valleys," extending and refurbishing an upper storey to the house in the nineteenth century.In the early 1840s the family funded a schoolhouse in the grounds of High Wray House; the original schoolhouse was demolished, and the replacement school building later became High Wray Village Hall.