Former Ansford inn

The Ansford inn was probably the most important inn in the Castle Cary neighbourhood. It was an important staging posts on the road system, a local landmark and was the boundary between two turnpike trusts.In 1780 the thrice weekly coach service between Bath and Weymouth called at the Ansford inn as did the 1824 coach service from Bristol to Poole called the Pilot.[1] It was bypassed by the new Station Road built in the early 1850s after the railway came to the area.

The inn was probably originally named the George in 1619 when it was kept by the Cary family.[2] The name may have been changed to the Ansford inn following the opening of the George in Castle Cary[3] as it stood on the main road near the Castle Cary boundary. In 1729 it had a hall, a great parlour furnished with an oval table and upholstered chairs, a kitchen, eight bedchambers, a new cellar, a brewhouse, and a stable.[4] In 1788 it was sold by Francis Wheeler from Bristol who had fitted it out in a ‘genteel manner’ and supplied post chaises.[5] In 1830 the antiquary Revd John Skinner stayed there.[6] The inn then had a 1st-floor ballroom 37 ft. by 20 ft., underground cellars, and coachhouse.[7] In 1851 there were four resident servants but posting had ceased by 1853, probably due to the arrival of teh railway. In 1861 it was occupied by a farmer,[8] and in 1896 by a seedsman.[9] The licence was given up in 1879.[10] The coach house was converted into a cowshed. From 1925 Pithers of Castle Cary used it for furniture storage. By 1951 the stairs to the second floor had been removed and there were 10 lock-up garages in the stableyard.[11] It has since been restored as apartments.

[1]     Castle Cary Visitor Nov. 1904. Bath Chronicle 25 May 1780.[2]     SRO, T/PH/buc 1; Castle Cary Visitor April 1911.[3]     SRO, Q/SR 252/5.[4]     TNA, PROB 3/29/62.[5]     Castle Cary Visitor Oct. 1898.[6]     Ibid. Feb. 1898, Feb. 1901; DNB.[7]     SRO, DD/X/WI 22.[8]     TNA, HO 107/193; ibid. RG 9/1646; RG 10/2421; Hants. RO 30M73/F7.[9]     Castle Cary Visitor Feb. 1896.[10]     Miller & Laver, Castle Cary, North Cadbury, and Wincanton, 46.[11]     SRO, DD/X/WI 22; D/R/winc 14/2/2; below, buildings.