In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Castle Cary like this:
CASTLE-CARY, a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict in Wincanton district, Somerset. The town stands on valley and on slopes, amid charming environs, adjacent to the East Somerset railway, 12 miles NNE of Yeovil. A castle at it was built by the Lovells, and made a figure in the civil wars of the time of Stephen; but has disappeared. ...
A manor house adjacent, gave shelter to Charles II. after the battle of Worcester; but has been almost demolished. A beautifully broken hillside, called Castle-Cary Park, was probably the chase of the lords of the manor; and commands a very splendid and extensive view. The principal street of the town runs up a hollow between two hills. The market house is an elegant edifice, built in 1855, at a cost of £2,300; and contains an assembly room upwards of 50 feet long. The parish church surmounts a hillock; has a tower and spire, erected in 1855; is itself partly decorated English of the time of Henry I., partly recent reconstruction; and contains an old font and a richly carved pulpit. There are Independent and Wesleyan chapels, a national school, a post office‡ under Bath, a railway station, a banking office, and three chief inns. Markets are held on Mondays; and fairs on the Tuesday before Palm-Sunday, 1 May, Whit-Tuesday, and the Tuesday after 19 Sept. Some trade is carried on in flax-spinning and hair-cloth-weaving.—The parish includes also the hamlets of Clanville, Dimmer, and Cockhill, and the manor of Foxcombe. Acres, 2,625. Real property, with Almsford, £11,977. Pop., 2,060. Houses, 433. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £312.* Patron, the Bishop of Bath and Wells.-The subdistrict contains fifteen parishes. Acres, 16,906. Pop., 6,129. Houses, 1,303.
Castle Cary through time
Castle Cary is now part of South Somerset district. Click here for graphs and data of how South Somerset has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Castle Cary itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Castle Cary in South Somerset | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/12522
Date accessed: 05th November 2024
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