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
Hardwicke Rawnsley in the Lake District. In January 1878, he married Edith Fletcher, and the couple had one child, a son, Noel. In 1882, the young Beatrix Potter holidayed in nearby Wray Castle with her parents. They entertained many eminent guests, including Rawnsley. His views on preserving the natural beauty of Lake District had a lasting effect on Potter, who was already taken with the area. He was the first published author she met, and he took a great interest in her drawings, later encouraging her to publish her first book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit". Rawnsley became engaged in local campaigns