Castle Cary

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Lodge Hill; Castra Cari

In the civil parish of Castle Cary. In the historic county of Somerset (Modern Authority of Somerset, 1974 county of Somerset).

Castle first recorded as Castra Cari in 1328. A Norman castle of some importance was built, probably in the late C11 or early C12 on Lodge Hill. The castle was besieged twice in Stephen's reign - in 1138 and 1148 - and was probably destroyed after about 1153AD. Medieval Motte and Bailey castle including the foundations of a stone keep an inner and outer bailey and 3 earthwork sites located immediately north of Park Pond. The three mounds may have been minor building platforms or Post Medieval pillow mounds. The foundations of the Norman keep were excavated in the 1890s.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST64113214

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape Defra ELS number; 200127 County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number; 53640

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlecary.freewire.co.uk/
    http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=53640
• Books
  • Prior, Stuart, 2006, A Few Well-Positioned Castles: The Norman Art of War (Tempus) p68-109
    Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern) p69
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p225 [slight]
    Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p32-3 [plan]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p442
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p203
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Burrow, Edward J., 1924, Ancient Earthworks and Camps of Somerset (Cheltenham and London) p130
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Bothamley, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Somerset Vol2 p522-3
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p51-4
• Journal Articles
  • Leach, P. and Ellis, P., 2003, 'Roman and Medieval Remains at Manor Farm, Castle Cary, 1998-2001' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol147 p80-128
    Keynes, J. and Keynes, R., 1979, ‘Manor Farm, Castle Cary’ in S Minnitt and B J Murless (eds), ‘Somerset Archaeology 1978’ Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol123 p90
    Keynes, J. and Keynes, R., 1978, ‘Manor Farm, Castle Cary’ in M A Aston and B J Murless (eds), ‘Somerset Archaeology 1977’ Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol122 p128-9
    King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol3 p90-127
    Gregory, S., 1890, '...discovery of...Castle Cary Castle' Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Vol36 p168-174
    Meade, 1878, Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Vol24 p50-2
    Meade, 1856-7, Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Vol7 p82-99 [history only]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Potter, K.R. (ed), 1955, Gesta Stephani, the Deeds of Stephen (London: Nelson)
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/dorseteng.html#somerset8]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p433