A functional memoryview for ctypes objects would avoid having to use workarounds, such as the following:

    >>> d = ctypes.c_double()
    >>> b = (ctypes.c_char * ctypes.sizeof(d)).from_buffer(d)
    >>> b[:] = b'abcdefgh'
    >>> d.value
    8.540883223036124e+194

or using numpy.frombuffer as a bridge:

    >>> d = ctypes.c_double()
    >>> m = memoryview(numpy.frombuffer(d, 'B'))
    >>> m[:] = b'abcdefgh'
    >>> d.value
    8.540883223036124e+194

David's request that cast('B') should be made to work for all contiguous buffers seems reasonable. That said, the ctypes format strings also need fixing. Let's see what happens when "@d" is used instead of "<d":

    >>> double_stgdict = stgdict(ctypes.c_double)
    >>> double_stgdict
    dict: 
        ob_base: 
            ob_refcnt: 1
            ob_type: py_object(<class 'StgDict'>)
        ma_used: 7
        ma_keys: LP_PyDictKeysObject(0x1aa5750)
        ma_values: LP_LP_PyObject(<NULL>)
    size: 8
    align: 8
    length: 0
    ffi_type_pointer: 
        size: 8
        alignment: 8
        type: 3
        elements: <NULL>
    proto: py_object('d')
    setfunc: SETFUNC(0x7f9f9b6e3e60)
    getfunc: GETFUNC(0x7f9f9b6e3d90)
    paramfunc: PARAMFUNC(0x7f9f9b6e31d0)
    argtypes: py_object(<NULL>)
    converters: py_object(<NULL>)
    restype: py_object(<NULL>)
    checker: py_object(<NULL>)
    flags: 4096
    format: b'<d'
    ndim: 0
    shape: LP_c_long(<NULL>)

    >>> double_stgdict.format = b'@d'

    >>> d = ctypes.c_double(3.14)
    >>> m = memoryview(d)
    >>> m[()]
    3.14
    >>> m[()] = 6.28
    >>> d.value
    6.28

    >>> m = m.cast('B')
    >>> m[:] = b'abcdefgh'
    >>> d.value
    8.540883223036124e+194

This shows that changing the format string (set by PyCSimpleType_new in _ctypes.c) to use "@" makes the memoryview work normally. OTOH, the swapped type (e.g. c_double.__ctype_be__) would need to continue to use a standard little-endian ("<") or big-endian (">") format.