Wray Castle Wray Castle. The house was built in 1840 for a retired [Liverpolitan] surgeon, James Dawson, who built it along with the neighbouring Wray Church using his wife's fortune. After Dawson's death in 1875 the estate was inherited by his fifteen year old 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 John Ruskin, conceived of a National Trust that could buy and preserve places of natural beauty and historic interest for the nation. The house
Jimmy Rawnsley year had downed four more enemy aircraft. On the 26 October 1943, after flying over 200 sorties with Cunningham and having been his radar operator during the downing of 17 enemy planes he was awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO). In 1957 Rawnsley published (with Robert Wright) a memoir detailing his wartime career in the book "Night Fighter". Covering his partnership with Cunningham, it gives a clear insight into the methods the pair used to find and down enemy aircraft. Jimmy Rawnsley Flight Lieutenant Cecil Frederick "Jimmy" Rawnsley (16 March 1904 – 12 February 1965) was a Royal Air Force