Lewis Carroll’s real name was Rev Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematical lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford University. The Dean of Christ Church at that time was Henry George Liddell who retained his family seat at Ravensworth Castle, and the two were good friends. In 1862, Dodgson took Liddell’s three daughters, Alice and her two sisters Lorina and Edith, on a rowing trip on the River Isis and it was during this trip he told the girls the tale which would eventually become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice, who would have been about 10 years old at the time, was frequently the subject of Dodgson’s keen amateur photography. This image of Dodgson’s shows Alice as a beggar girl and, when compared the sketches in his original 1862-4 manuscripts of Alice’s adventures Under Ground, written for Alice, the resemblance is remarkable.

This connection is well know but, perhaps more intriguing is the possibility that Dodgson returned on occasion to Ravensworth with his friend Liddell and was inspired by the young Alice’s childhood exploration of the fairytale castle and its pleasure grounds, helping him create the fantastical world in his world famous children’s tale. It would be a remarkable association if Ravensworth Castle itself, built by Alice’s great uncle,was the inspiration for Wonderland.