Former Angel, Castle Cary

The Angel, recorded from 1620,[1] was in 1708 described as an ancient inn.[2] Election dinners, vestry meetings, and auctions were held there in the later 18th century.[3] With the George it was ‘tolerable’ c.1780.[4] It was sold in 1786 with stables, cellar, and brewhouse[5] and again in 1794 with stock, utensils, and furniture. It closed c.1799 when the lease expired[6] and by 1801 was a private house called the Old Angel.[7] The Catherine Wheel, on the corner of Woodcock Street and Market Place in 1707,[8] was renamed the Angel in 1800 and was rebuilt, probably between 1802 and 1805 when no licence was issued. The Angel was licensed again in 1806.[9] In 1854 it had a brewhouse and a weighbridge.[10] It remained in business, despite having its licence referred in 1905, until the 1950s but was then converted into shops.[11]

[1]     SRO, T/PH/buc 1; ibid. Q/SR 99/6; Wilts. RO 383/332.

[2]     Wilts. RO 383/506.

[3]      J. Beresford (ed.), The Diary of a Country Parson (1926), I, 71; Wilts. RO 383/162.

[4]     SRO, A/AQP 9.

[5]     Wilts. RO 383/162; SRO, DD/BR/hk 1.

[6]     Castle Cary Visitor Sep. 1897.

[7]     SRO, Q/RLa 23/9—10; ibid. DD/BR/hk 1.

[8]     Ibid. D/D/Cd 117.

[9]     Wilts. RO 383/322; SRO, Q/RLa 23/9—12; Castle Cary Visitor Oct. 1897; Miller & Laver, Castle Cary, North Cadbury, and Wincanton, 21.

[10]     SRO, D/P/cas 4/3/1.

[11]     Ibid. QS/LIC 3; Kelly’s Dir. Som. (1906—39); Living History Group, Time to Reflect, 23.