Wray is a small village in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England, part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Wray-with-Botton Wray-with-Botton is a civil parish in the City of Lancaster district and the English county of Lancashire. In 2001 it had a population of 521,City of Lancaster The City of Lancaster () is a local government district of Lancashire, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, but covers a far larger area, which includes the tow ...

district. Wray is the point at which the

River Roeburn The River Roeburn is a river in Lancashire, England. Sourced at Salter Fell, the Roeburn flows northwards through Roeburndale Roeburndale is a civil parish in the City of Lancaster and the English county of Lancashire. In 2001 it had a popula ...

joins the River Hindburn.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census Wray-with-Botton had 521 residents, 269 male, 252 female and 200 homes.

Facilities

The village has a general store with a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. The village also has a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, The George and Dragon; a

tearoom A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...

, Bridge House Farm Tearooms; and the Bridge House Bistro. Wray has a

wireless broadband Wireless broadband is telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term comprises both fixed and mobile broadband. The term broadband Originally the word "b ...

network maintained by

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

with a

wireless mesh network A wireless mesh network (WMN) is a communications network made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology. It can also be a form of wireless ad hoc network.Chai Keong Toh Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless Networks, Prentice Hall Publishers, 2002. A m ...

. The village is also working with the university to trial a digital TV network through the mesh. Wray is the

Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley B ...

village of Lancashire and has a website one of the earliest villages to so. Wray is home to the "maggot races", an annual event which raises money for local charities.

History

1967 Wray Flood

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

on 8 August 1967 of the river Roeburn resulted in the loss of houses, bridges, livestock, vehicles, and personal possessions. Despite the scale of the devastation, no serious injury was done to any residents. The flood is illustrated in the Millennium Mosaic, completed in September 2000, which represents the wind and storm spewing out a great tide of water. The mosaic is in the 'Flood Garden' on Main Street, the site of some of the houses demolished by the flood. Photos of the flood are village website and displayed the post office.

Railway

Wray railway station Wray railway station was a short-lived station near the village of Wray in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England. The station was opened on a temporary basis by the "Little" North Western Railway The North Western Railway ( ...

was between

Hornby Hornby may refer to: Places In England * Hornby, Lancashire * Hornby, Hambleton, village in North Yorkshire * Hornby, Richmondshire, village in North Yorkshire Elsewhere * Hornby, Ontario, community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canad ...

and Wennington on the

"little" North Western Railway The North Western Railway (NWR) was an early British railway company in the north-west of England. It was commonly known as the "Little" North Western Railway, to distinguish it from the larger London and North Western Railway (LNWR). The NWR w ...

. It opened in 1849 and closed six months later.

Scarecrow Festival

The Scarecrow Festival, established 1995, takes place every year during the week leading up to

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...

when there is a fair. During the week there are refreshments served daily in the village hall and a parade of the giants. Many villagers erect scarecrows outside their homes, and these are all photographed and added to the digital noticeboard online via the village website. On Easter Monday 2011, the festival's cricket match,

Twicket Twicket (a portmanteau of Twitter and Cricket) was a village cricket match, streamed world-wide on the Internet on Easter Monday, 25 April 2011, with the intention of highlighting the need for high-capacity upstream broadband to enable community ...

, was

live-streamed Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

on the internet.

References

External links

Virtual Tour of the Village with panoramas and hundreds of photos, plus video history of the Scarecrow Festival and Wray Fair.

Wray Methodist Church
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Geography of the City of Lancaster Forest of Bowland