Castle Cary
Castle Cary photos (13 available)
Castle Cary maps (2 available)
Map of Somerset
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Castle Cary books (12 available)
- 3 photos on Castle Cary appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Castle Cary
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Castle Cary and Somerset
Castle Cary memories
Read and share memories of Castle Cary and Somerset inspired by Frith photos
Be the first to add a memory of Castle Cary.
You can also read memories of nearby places in Somerset below.
Somerset memories
The big question
Upon leaving the primary school in North Cadbury, we were asked the big question. Well, the big question for an 11 year old.
"What do you want to be doing when you are older?"
My answer to this, was that I would like to be writing books and making films, and I would make a film in the village.
It is now 26 years later, and I am preparing to return to the village to make a film.
This means a lot, as it was here that I learnt to write, and where I first wrote my short stories.
A memory of North Cadbury contributed by Joe Jenkins
War Years
I was born in a village near Bruton in 1939. My early memories of walking to school with my gas mask in a bag over the shoulder (never had to use it). There was an army camp down the road from our cottage, so there was lots of activity around. I used to watch the searchlight, thought at that time it was very exciting. We used to wait for the convoys of American soldiers to pass the bottom of our lane, they use to throw strips of chewing gum to us, which was a treat as we hadn't seen it before. I attended Bruton County School from 1944-1954. I go back to Somerset as often as I can and visit family ...read more here
A memory of Bruton contributed by Audrey O'Halloran
Childhood
I was born in London, and my family moved to Culberry Cottage in East Pennard when I was about 8yrs or 9yrs old. That was a short but happy stay in the area amongst the farm lands, animals and walks in the fields picking wild daffodils and bluebells. I loved to help the farmers with the dairy cows and picked the cider apples. Will never forget the wonderful taste of the fresh milk/cream, but especially the taste after the cows had eaten some of the cider apples (cider and milk do not mix well!). Culberry Cottage was at that time a 700 year old stone cottage with no electric and a well for water at the bottom of the lane with ...read more here
A memory of East Pennard contributed by Brenda Carter
Conversion to Faith
I have great memories of the Church of St Luke and St Teresa. After instruction I was received into the church by Fr. Paul O' Sullivan, I had my confirmation there the following year. My husband and I were married at St Luke and St Teresa over 50 years ago, sad to say he passed away in 2005. Our eldest daughter was baptised in this church 1961, she was born at Templecombe that year. We came to live in Co. Clare, Ireland in 1971 but often visit Wincanton. On one such visit we were sad to find that the Carmelite Order had left the area. My first time to go into St Luke's was in 1955, when a friend, since deceased, ...read more here
A memory of Wincanton contributed by Audrey O'Halloran
Extracts From Castle Cary & Somerset books
This pond is a remnant of the castle moat, which was reshaped in 1784. It was home to a pair of swans for years until it was deemed unsuitable, and for the Millennium a swan statue was erected in the water near the war memorial.
An extract from from"Somerset Living Memories".
The White Hart here has a long history. Fore Street once had many thatched cottages and a stream running down one side, but it was rebuilt in the 19th century, when the town prospered with the woollen industry. That industry was replaced by shoe making until the 1960s.
An extract from from"Somerset Living Memories".
Also known as the Blind House from its lack of windows, the Roundhouse was the village lock-up. Built in 1779, it sometimes held children playing truant from school. Markets and fairs were held here - the Market House is out of view to the right.
An extract from from"Somerset Living Memories".
To reach our final village, Pilton, we must
leave our straight route at East Pennard and
travel almost due north for a couple of miles
or so. Pilton is a large but quite dispersed
village beside the Glastonbury to Shepton
Mallet road, and we are now some six miles
from the former.
The parish church, dedicated to St John
the Baptist, developed from the Norman
period onward through the Middle Ages, and
is down in a dip at the junction of several
streets. The church has an attractive Norman
south door, with corbels with heads of a bish-
op and two angels inside the porch. Inside
there is an Easter sepulchre, and the nave
and north aisle have Somerset-style timber
tie-beam roofs with carvings of angels.
Next to the church there is the manor
house. It was established in the 13th century
as a residence of the Abbots of Glastonbury
and added to by them for the next couple
of hundred years. After the Dissolution, it
passed into private hands and what we see
today from the outside is the result of various
alterations made during the 17th, 18th and
19th centuries, including some by one of the
Earls of Hereford who owned the place in the
17th century. In the yard at the back there is a
rare survival, a dovecote dating from the 13th
or 14th century.
An extract from from"Glastonbury Photographic Memories".
An intriguing photograph - are the men beside the pile of stones carrying out repairs or new construc-
tion? It looks as though they may be finishing work on the wall in the foreground, perhaps linked to the
new frontage for the main building constructed around this time. The wall was probably demolished
when the factory was extended in 1933.
An extract from from"Glastonbury Photographic Memories".