Former Golden Lion, South Street, Castle Cary and neighbouring public houses

The house on the left of the above photograph is the former Golden Lion, South Cary, which opened c.1805[1] with its own brewhouse. It had closed and become a private house by 1816 when Zion chapel opened on the former garden off its yard, to the left of the building, renamed Chapel Yard.[2] Other public houses in South Cary included a beerhouse opened by Edward Oram before 1850[3] on the south corner of South Cary Lane[4] before moving to new premises in 1851 after which it closed.[5] The Mitre alehouse, first recorded in 1859[6] but said to have been built by Robert Gibbons in 1831, was probably the beerhouse in Gibbons Row between 1841 and 1850.[7] It remained open until 1905[8] opposite the church on the site of Mitre Place flats. The Baytree beerhouse[9] at the southern end of South Cary was kept by Philip Talbot (d. 1841) but was converted into cottages, which were destroyed by fire in 1852.[10] The Alma beerhouse was built on the site before 1859 and belonged to Oakhill Brewery in 1896.[11] It was granted a full licence in 1953,[12] was renamed the Clarence after 1973, and c. 1981 became the Countryman.[13] It remains in business.

[1]     SRO, Q/RLa 23/11.

[2]     Ibid. D/P/cas 4/1/3; inf. from Dr J. Jurica, VCH Gloucs.; McGarvie, Castle Cary, 17; below, rel. hist., nonconf.

[3]     Hunt, Dir. Som. (1850).

[4]     Later a shop which burnt down in 1852, a year when several fires hit South Cary, and was not rebuilt: Castle Cary Visitor Aug. 1897, June 1899; SRO, tithe award; O.S. Map 1:10560, Som. LXV. NW (1888 edn).

[5]     TNA, HO 107/1931.

[6]     Ibid. RG 9/1646; PO Dir. Som. (1859).

[7]     Castle Cary Visitor March 1906; TNA, HO 107/937; Pigott & Co. Dir. Som. (1842); Hunt, Dir. Som. (1850).

[8]     TNA, RG 10/2422; SRO, D/R/winc 14/2/14—15; ibid. QS/LIC 1.

[9]     The front garden contained a bay tree: Castle Cary Visitor Nov. 1902.

[10]     Robson’s Dir. Som. (1839); Castle Cary Visitor Feb. 1898; June 1899.

[11]     PO Dir. Som. (1859); Castle Cary Visitor Nov. 1902; TNA, RG 11/2395; Kelly’s Dir. Som. (1883); SRO, D/R/winc 14/2/14.

[12]     SRO, QS/LIC 3; ibid. D/PC/cas 2/2/10.

[13]     Ibid. D/PC/cas 1/2/7, 5/6/2; Castle Cary and Ansford Guide (1981).