The Glasshouse at Wray Castle

Wray Castle, on the western shore of Windermere, was built in 1840 for James Dawson, a retired Liverpool surgeon, according to Wikipedia. The glasshouse stands east of the castle: Historic England's list entry, which has listed it at Grade II since 25 March 1970, dates it to about 1845 and hesitates over its author, between H. P. Horner and J. Lightfoot. The listing text, amended in 2017, then describes a three-bay greenhouse that was "originally glazed", with its windows boarded up, and notes that it serves as a store.

The castle and its 64 acres were given to the National Trust in 1929; it has been open to visitors since 2011. It has, however, been closed since August 2025 for restoration work, with a partial reopening planned for spring 2027, while the rest of the estate remains open.

In September 2026 the Trust's general manager for the site invited visitors to see the recently restored Footman's Lodge and Glasshouse.

Historic England's list entry describes a small group in dressed slate and limestone. A square tower with a battered base and a corbelled, embattled parapet occupies the north-west corner; its recessed doorway has a segmental-pointed head, topped by an arrow slit. The greenhouse, to the south-east, has three limestone bays under a pyramidal roof that was "originally glazed", with large segmental-pointed windows fitted with two-light casements; the south-east front is similar. On the north-east side a basement entrance leads to a room with a fireplace, and a terrace to the north is held by raking buttresses.

Retaining walls complete the whole: a wall of about 6.7 m to the south, ending in a turret, and another of about 67 m running north, with three projecting bays and buttresses, continuing for 30 m to the west. Photographs published by the BBC in 2025 and by the local press with a National Trust credit now show a pyramidal roof of glass panes set in bars and three tall pointed-arch windows divided into small panes, in a stone wall.

In September 2026 the Trust's general manager for the site called the glasshouse only "recently restored". A photograph of the glasshouse on Wikimedia Commons shows broad foliage behind the panes, without any way of naming the species.

The rest of the estate offers more botanical interest: the Trust mentions a walled garden, on a 64-acre estate beside Windermere.

The glasshouse stands east of the castle, within the estate that the National Trust keeps open every day during the castle works: woodland trails, lakeshore walks, a walled garden and a café. The Trust's general manager invites people to visit it, together with the Footman's Lodge. The estate can be reached by car, on foot, by bike or by ferry across the lake.

The castle is closed until spring 2027, when its interior is due to reopen in part, and a summer trail with family activities is announced for 2027 for the 125th anniversary of the commercial publication of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter stayed at Wray in 1882, aged sixteen.