Cary Castle stood on Lodge Hill overlooking the town of Castle Cary

Castle Cary

Castle Cary is a market town and civil parish in south Somerset, England, north west of Wincanton and south of Shepton Mallet.The town is situated on the River Cary, a tributary of the Parrett.-History:...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument

Scheduled Ancient Monument

In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...

.

Details

The motte and bailey castle was built either by Walter of Douai

Walter of Douai

Walter of Douai was a Norman knight, probably at the Battle of Hastings, and a major landowner in South West England after the Norman Conquest. He is given various names and titles in different sources including: Walter de Douai. Douai is sometimes written as Dowai...

 or by his son Robert who also built Bampton Castle

Bampton Castle, Devon

Bampton Castle was in the village of Bampton, Devon .In Saxon times a defensive mound was built. On this mound the Normans built a wooden castle about 1067. In 1136 it was besieged by King Stephen and the fortifications were burnt down...

 in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

. During The Anarchy

The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...

 Robert was exiled by King Stephen

Stephen, King of England

Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...

 and the castle given to Ralph Lovel who then sided with Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester

Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester

Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England. He was called "Rufus" and occasionally "de Caen", he is also known as Robert "the Consul"...

 against the king. King Stephen abandoned his siege of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 in 1138 and besieged

Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

 Cary Castle with fire and showers of stones from Siege engines until the defenders surrendered.

In 1143 Stephen lost control of the West Country after the Battle of Wilton

Battle of Wilton (1143)

The Battle of Wilton was a battle of the civil war in England known as The Anarchy. It was fought on 1 July 1143 The date is from Gervase of Canterbury , but Gervase only began writing his chronicle around 1188...

. Henry de Tracy gained control of Cary Castle and built another stronghold in front of the older castle, however this was demolished when William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester

William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester

William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester was the son and heir of Sir Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and Mabel FitzHamon of Gloucester, daughter of Robert Fitzhamon.- Lineage :...

 and his troops arrived to take the castle. The Lovels later achieved the return of the castle and their descendents were lords of the manor until the 14th century.

By 1468 the castle had been abandoned. Around that time a manor house was built on or adjacent to the site of the castle, possibly by Baron Zouche

Baron Zouche

Baron Zouche is a title that has thrice been created in the Peerage of England.-Genealogy:The de la Zouche family descended from Alan de la Zouche, sometimes called Alan de Porhoët and Alan la Coche , a Breton who settled in England during the reign of Henry II. He was the son of Vicomte Geoffrey I...

. It later passed to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp of Hache, KG, Earl Marshal was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549....

 but by the 1630s it was occupied by Edward Kirton. It was largely demolished at the end of the 18th century.

The site was excavated in 1890 and demonstrated the foundations of a 24 metre square stone keep

Keep

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...

 and an inner and outer bailey.

Only the earthworks now remain. Some of the stonework of the castle can be seen in the buildings of the town, and a display about its history is available in the Castle Cary and District Museum

Castle Cary and District Museum

Castle Cary and District Museum is a small local museum in Castle Cary, Somerset, England.The museum is housed in the Market house, a grade II* listed building built in 1855 in anticipation of increased trade after the projected arrival of the railway in 1856, by F.C. Penrose...

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