"This is not a real castle but a private house built in in the Gothic Revival Style in 1840. It was built for Dr Dawson, a retired Liverpool surgeon, and is now owned by the National Trust. The house was built using his wife's inheritance from a gin fortune. Apparently she took one look at the house when it was finished, and refused to live in it. The architect, H.P. Horner, drank himself to death.After Dr Dawson's death in 1875, when he was 96, the estate was inherited by his nephew, Preston Rawnsley. In 1877 Preston's cousin, Hardwicke Rawnsley, took up the appointment of vicar of Wray Church (next to the Castle and built at the same time by Dr Dawson). In 1929 Wray Castle and 64 acres of land were given to the National Trust by Sir Noton and Lady Barclay.The grounds are open to the public, and are well worth visiting for the sake of the specimen trees - wellingtonia, redwood, gingkoa, weeping lime and varieties of beech. There is a mulberry tree planted by William Wordsworth in 1845. Watbarrow Wood is the wooded bank between the castle and the lake, and has several pleasant paths leading through it to the water's edge." Source: Visit Cumbria.com