Wreay village is dominated by the imagination and influence of one woman.

Wreay is a much-loved village five miles from Carlisle. It is one of the places – along with Talkin Tarn – that city dwellers will recommend to people who are new to the area and, equally, where many local people head for a weekend walk.

For a small village, Wreay has quite a reputation throughout Cumbria and beyond mostly thanks to one woman, Sarah Losh. Born in 1785, the daughter of local landowner and industrialist John Losh and his wife Isabella, Sarah was an architect and her legacy to the village includes the prominent and renowned St Mary’s Church, mausoleum and Chapel of Rest, now the Sarah Losh Heritage Centre.

The grade II* church was started in 1840 and replaced a small medieval chapel elsewhere. Sarah donated the land and paid the church’s £1,008 cost herself on the condition that its design would be hers. She and her sister Katherine had inherited the family estate of Woodside upon the death of their father in 1814.

European in style, the design was based on basilica form with a rectangular nave and semi-circular apse, a feature introduced by the Romans which Sarah will have seen on her and Katherine’s continental Grand Tour in 1817. Bronze candelabra in the church are among items the sisters brought back from Pompeii and other cities.

The imaginative yet simple church design is unusual for incorporating many motifs of nature, carvings of animals, insects and plants that symbolise death and rebirth. The pinecone, an ancient symbol of fertility, is a common motif found on door handles and on roof trusses in the church and is even reflected in the name of The Friends of St Mary’s Church newsletter, Pinecone.

The church website (stmaryswreay.org) states: “This simple building form was at odds with the prevailing English Gothic style, but it suited Sarah’s modest technical skills and budget. Her workforce was drawn from local labour, including the stonemason William Hindson and his son. Even Sarah’s gardener put his hand to carving the decoration around the door.”

Sarah carved the alabaster font herself, along with her cousin, William Septimus, its dragonflies and butterflies representing new life. The family were acquainted with William Wordsworth so Sarah may have been influenced by him and other Romantics of the time. Similar motifs of the natural world became popular much later as key features of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The website goes on: “Sarah, who died in 1853, has been described as ‘a gentlewoman of exemplary worth and benevolence’ and it is her generosity that has left us with this unique and very personal building.”

The mausoleum was designed by Sarah in 1850 in memory of her beloved sister and contains a white marble statue of Katherine created by local sculptor David Dunbar. Indeed, the church website suggests that St Mary’s itself is, in part, a memorial to Katherine as well as reflecting of Sarah’s artistry, devotion and scientific interests.

Specialist conservation and restoration work on the sculpture was carried out last autumn. The statue and three low relief portraits were cleaned and small repairs were made to match the original marble.

The work was made possible thanks to a £3,000 donation from the Friends of St Mary’s Church.

Sarah’s reconstruction of the 7th Century Bewcastle Cross, around 1835, in the family burial ground is dedicated to her parents.

Sarah also designed the Chapel of Rest in 1835, considered to be a trial run for the church and an exact copy of St Piran’s Oratory, near Perranporth, in Cornwall, the ruins of which had just been uncovered from drifting sands.

The Chapel of Rest had no purpose for some time and was in need of repair and maintenance before a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant paid it to be transformed into the Sarah Losh Heritage Centre. Visiting is free and the centre tells the story of Wreay, St Mary’s Church and the Losh family. It also has a meeting room, creative studio, exhibition space and space for simple services and would normally be open every day from 10am-4pm.

Today, the village pub, the Plough Inn, is a popular hostelry for refreshments after a walk, in normal times. However, it, too, has plenty of history. Since being built in 1786, it has been the meeting place of local trustees known as the Twelve Men of Wreay, although records show there was a group in existence a century earlier.

Originally local landowners, they contributed to the upkeep of the church, appointed and paid the salary of the priest-cum-schoolmaster and acted as guardians of the poor. Traditionally, they would hold their meeting at 6pm on Candlemass Day then enjoy a supper of bread, cheese, oatcake, butter and ale, smoke 19in-long clay pipes, tell tales of bygone days and sing songs. The Twelve, who second new members as required, still meet annually and administer a charity fund drawn from the rent of properties and distribute for the benefit of the village and villagers, including the primary school and bursaries for young people towards their education.

The West Coast mainline runs close to Wreay, which used to have its own station that opened in 1843 but closed in 1953. A walk to Wreay Woods from the village takes you over the railway line. The woodland is listed as ancient and part of it is managed as a nature reserve by Cumbria Wildlife Trust. The reserve covers a 2.5km of the River Petteril, which has cut a deep gorge through the land exposing red sandstone outcrops and hollows.

A walk in the woods

Parts of this walk will be familiar to anyone who travels regularly on the M6. Newbiggin Bridge seems almost within touching distance of the traffic heading north, while the River Petteril and its flood plain offer a lovely, pastoral view from the motorway travelling south.

Unfortunately, the closure of a tiny section of riverside path due to damage, possibly at the time of Storm Desmond, means you can’t walk across the field from the direction of Wreay at present, and prevents our walk from being circular.

At the moment, it can only offer an out-and-return route, albeit through lovely Wreay Woods. We’ve included the full route for a later date when the path is fixed, although Cumbria County Council says there are currently no plans to reinstate or repair the path due to the complex nature of the work required and recent poor weather.

“It will be repaired at some point, but no schedule for this work has yet been confirmed,” the council says.

The full route is around four-and-a-half miles and will take less than two hours. You can park alongside St Mary’s Church, in Wreay.

1 From the village green with the noticeboard, take the road left at the junction signed Carlisle and Briscoe, then take the first road on the right following a green signpost to Newbiggin – there is a sign indicating that the path is closed, although this is much further on and doesn’t prevent you from getting to Wreay Woods. Follow the tarmac lane between stone walls soon entering open countryside.

2 Cross over the railway line. As the lane bears left, head over the style signposted Golden Fleece. Follow the path down the slope with the fence on your right. Climb the style at the bottom and go straight ahead. Follow the path across the field parallel with the line of telegraph poles. Just past the lowest telegraph pole, you will see the green bridge crossing the River Petteril.

3 Cross the bridge and turn left to go through a wooden gate into the woods. Follow the path up and down steps, across footbridges and negotiate through and around fallen tree trunks. It is muddy but eventually you will reach duckboards across the mud.

4 After the last footbridge, go through the metal kissing gate and into an open field following the footpath along the right-hand edge. At the far end of the field is a metal kissing gate with the M6 clearly visible on your left. The path is currently closed, the gate padlocked, so it is at this point that you have to retrace your steps back to Wreay, although you could opt to return to the woods by the riverside.

5 Assuming the path eventually reopens, you would go through this gate and along the riverside to pass through another metal kissing gate and into the open field. Keep close to the trees on your right until a clear path leads off cross the field to the left in the direction of the motorway bridge. Go through the metal gate and follow the gravel path beneath the motorway.

6 On reaching the other side of the motorway, take the path across the grass area through a partly hidden wooden kissing gate next to a picnic area. Turn left and follow the tarmac path over the stone footbridge.

7 At some finger posts, go straight on. At the junction of roads, go straight on. Just before the houses, follow the road round to the right following the green finger post. Go straight ahead and take the small gate next to the large wooden gate into a field, keeping to the fence on your left. Follow it round to reach the bridge over the railway line, which you cross. Turn left at the other side.

8 Carry on straight ahead, keeping to the fence parallel with the railway line on your left. Go over a footbridge, up the hill on the other side and over a stile. Continue in the same direction. At the fence in front of you, bear right keeping to the edge of the field. At the metal fence turn another sharp right. At the end of the field, this time go through the metal gate or over the stile, which is hidden in the corner. Follow the track with the metal fence on your left.

9 On reaching the road turn left and walk back up the road to Wreay.