Castle Cary Town Website

By Rail Castle Cary railway station is about a mile to the north of the town. It's on the main London to Penzance line, about two hours from London; it's also on the Bristol to Weymouth 'Heart of Wessex' line (see www.heartofwessex.org.uk). You can find information about train times at www.nationalrail.co.uk; see also the useful website of the Friends of Bruton Railway Station. From the station, you can follow the footpath towards the town centre via Ansford (follow the way-markers); there are also taxi ranks and a bus stop by the station.

By Road Castle Cary lies just south of the A371. If you're coming from the north, take the A37 south from Bristol as far as Shepton Mallet, where you pick up the A371 (sign-posted to Wincanton and Castle Cary); this brings you past the station, and you can then turn right down Station Road towards the town centre. If you're coming from the east or south via the A303, come off at Wincanton and follow the A371 (signposted to Castle Cary and the Bath & West Showground); as you come down the hill past the sign for Castle Cary, turn left at the crossroads by the old Wagon & Horses pub into the town centre. Coming from the west on the A303, take the A359 at the Sparkford Roundabout (signposted to Castle Cary and Bruton), and turn left towards the town centre just after Galhampton.

By Bus Berry's Coaches (http://www.berryscoaches.co.uk/) run a twice-daily service between London (Hammersmith) and Wincanton. Information about bus services between Wincanton and Castle Cary can be found at http://www.nippybus.co.uk/services/nippylink/667/timetable.asp. Information about bus services between Yeovil and Shepton Mallet via Castle Cary can be found at http://www.southwestcoaches.co.uk/timetablefiles/SWCoaches_Timetable1.pdf.

See Castle Cary on Google Maps here.

The late medieval painted room
The Old House
Lower Cockhill Farm
Castle Cary
BA7 7NZ

Viewing by prior arrangement only - Sunday afternoons preferred

Guided tours - small admission fee.

Contact 01963 351288 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.oldhousecockhill.co.uk

Castle Cary
one of the most attractive
of Somerset's market towns

Tucked away in a secluded spot a few miles off the A303, the golden stone of Castle Cary and Ansford exudes a warm glow complemented by its glorious setting in the South Somerset countryside and its friendly inhabitants.

Castle Cary and Ansford is known by its two parishes. But folk who know the town simply call it "Cary". The 12th Century castle of the name no longer exists, although you can still see some of its stone in the buildings of the town centre. And the town is the source of the River Cary which rises from Park Pond, part of the original castle moat.

The 19th Century Market House dominates the centre of the town, across the HIgh Street from the thatched George Hotel - one of Cary's oldest buildings. Fore Street, stretching down to the Horse Pond, is full of individual, high quality shops, delicatessens, cafes and restaurants. Tuesday is Market Day, when fish and organic vegetables are sold in the front of the Market House, with a Farmers Market every third Tuesday in the month.

Behind the Market House stands Cary's historic Roundhouse lock-up. Constructed in 1779, it is one of only four such buildings remaining in the country today. The celebrated diarist Parson James Woodforde (1740 - 1803) lived in Ansford; more recently Douglas Macmillan, founder of Macmillan Cancer Support, lived in Cary.

If you're walking, rambling or simply looking for a quiet time in the countryside, Cary can provide it. The Monarch's Way, the Macmillan Way and Leland Trail all pass near the town, as does the route to Glastonbury for many festival-goers.

No matter when you visit, you'll find something special: Cary is a town for all seasons. Not to be missed is the renowed illuminated carnival which takes place in October. If you want to get away for the weekend, there is plenty of great hotel or Bed and Breakfast accommodation too and many award-winning attractions around the Cary area - both indoors, and out-and-about.

This part of the website is intended to be a general catchall for all the information about Castle Cary and the surrounding area, of particular interest to visitors both new to the area and old hands. We're improving it all the time, so please keep checking back for additions.

Castle Cary first appears in recorded history after the Norman invasion in the eleventh century, though there is evidence that the site was occupied, and probably fortified, before this. During the middle ages it appears in various documents under different names: Cari, Cary, Castra Cary, Castell Cairoc and Caricastel. Like a number of other settlements in the area, it takes half of its name from the River Cary that rises at the foot of Lodge Hill. 'Caer' means 'rock', 'crag' or 'castle' in various Celtic languages, and so the river may be named after its point of origin. The castle, meanwhile, certainly existed by 1138, when it was besieged by King Stephen in the course of the struggle for the throne of England with his cousin Matilda; it was besieged again in 1152. An excavation of the site in 1890 found the foundations of a large stone tower, but only the earthworks remain today; by the mid-fifteenth century the castle had been abandoned by its owners in favour of a large (and doubtless less draughty) manor house nearby, and the stones were probably used for other buildings in the town. The results of a geophysical survey of the castle site in 2011 are awaited eagerly, and will be reported on the Castle Cary Museum website.

During the middle ages, the manor of Castle Cary passed by marriage from the Lovels to the St Maurs and then to the Zouche family. The settlement developed as a market town – it received a formal market charter from Edward 1V in 1468 - and also as the location of a large number of rural industries, including a flourishing woollen industry. A cheap, coarse and hard-wearing cloth known as cauri-maury was made here for the poor – it is not clear whether this material was wool- or linen-based. All Saints' Church dates from around 1470, and the original George Hotel was constructed around the same time (though subsequently rebuilt after a fire). The original market house was constructed in about 1616.

In the late sixteenth century, in the face of the threatened Spanish invasion, a muster roll for the town lists seventeen billmen, eight archers, four pikemen and one gonner (or 'hand gunner'), and a number of gentlemen who could provide armour for the troops. This suggests that Cary was a substantial and flourishing settlement. During the English Civil War in the next century, a Parliamentary Army en route from the siege of Sherborne Castle to Bristol stripped the church roof of its lead for musket balls and threw down the bells. In 1651 King Charles II is said to have stayed in the town, at either the old Manor House or a house in Fore Street, following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester on 3rd September of that year; the Monarch's Way, a long distance footpath which follows the King's escape route, passes through Castle Cary.

By 1700 Castle Cary was one of the principal cloth-making towns of the area, now making good quality cloth. With the collapse of the wool industry by the end of the century, linen weaving took its place. We can see something of life in Cary in the eighteenth century through the famous diary of the Rev. James Woodforde, who was born in nearby Ansford in 1740 and who regularly visited the town - you can find more information about him from the Parson Woodforde Society webpage. We also know that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, preached in the town on various occasions. The town lock-up, known as the Round House, was built (or probably re-built) on Bailey Hill with charitable funds at a cost of £23 in 1779.

From the late eighteenth cenntury, considerable changes took place in the town. The Donne family established flax mills making things such as twine, sailcloth and webbing – a highly successful linen business, which changed sites several times. This success is reflected in the building of Florida House for John Stephens Donne in 1877 – Castle Cary’s largest and most architecturally ambitious building. Another notable industry was the weaving of horsehair which was developed by both the Mathews family and more notably John Boyd. Horsehair cloth was used particularly for upholstery and Boyd’s factory still exists, weaving the cloth on late-nineteenth century looms; the firm is celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2012, and you can find much more about its history on the website. Castle Cary Cricket Club was founded in 1837 and is still going strong; in 1900 it supplied five players to the Devon & Somerset Wanderers team that won the first and only Cricket Olympic medal, an event which will be celebrated next year in parallel to the London Olympics. Between 1840 and 1855 the National School in Church Street was built and the Church was renovated and enlarged. The Market House was rebuilt as it is today in 1855 in anticipation of increased trade due to the eagerly awaited railway station.

Castle Cary became and remains an important railway junction, linking the south coast to the main London to Penzance line. On 3rd September 1942 a bomber wrecked a goods train at Castle Cary Station as well as demolishing the signal box, killing a signalman, and destroying the Station Hotel. Today, it is best known to tens of thousands of music fans as the main station for the Glastonbury Festival.

Over the last 50 years the town has expanded to the north, but the centre has changed little. The streets are still recognisable from old photographs, and many fine nineteenth-century shop-fronts survive, even if the names on some of them have changed.