Castle Cary's markets and fairs

Castle Cary's market seems never to have been a success despite numerous charters and revivals. There were many rivals in the area and the town's development was slow before the 18th century and the growth of its textile industries.

In 1633 the market was said to be ‘hardly of the middle size’ and it was regularly let out. In the later 17th and early 18th century the main commodity was sheep. Castle Cary was described as a market town in 1707 although the market was ‘paltry’. Attempts to revive the market in the 1850s following the building of the railway through the area had only limited success but have left the town a legacy in the form of a fine Market House more usually called the Town Hall.