Castle Cary image © Graham Horn, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4053984

EXCLUSIVE HISTORIC HOUSES MEMBERS TOUR

Discover the secret and historic buildings and curiosities of Castle Cary.

Visit The Old House at Cockhill, a rare survival of a 15th century medieval farmhouse with a two-bay hall, beams dating from 1435 and a painted room, likely once used as a chapel with unique wall paintings. The house has kept its original layout more fully than most surviving small domestic buildings of that period with a roof that retains its original crucks and windbraces and with carpentry of an unusually high standard for a modest domestic building, suggesting it had some special purpose. 

Image of the Market House © Neiljforsyth, CC BY-SA 4.0 <;, via Wikimedia Commons

Later enjoy a guided walk around the town and a tour of the Grade II* Market House, the focal point of the town since 1855 and built to replace an earlier house in anticipation of the arrival of the railway in 1856. The original undercroft, which is still enclosed by iron railings, was for the corn market with reading rooms and facilities for musical entertainment above. Originally used to host the town’s market traders, the building fell into disrepair as the markets petered out but has been fully restored since 2014 into a community hub.

Tickets £58 including a two-course Sunday roast lunch or alternative with tea and coffee at the historic thatched George Hotel. Lunch options to be made available to attendees in January