| Castle Cary Market House | |
| Coordinates: | 51.0896°N -2.514°W |
| Location: | Market Place, Castle Cary |
| Built: | 1855 |
| Architect: | Francis Penrose |
| Architecture: | Neoclassical style |
| Designation1: | Grade II* Listed Building |
| Designation1 Offname: | The Market House |
| Designation1 Date: | 4 February 1974 |
| Designation1 Number: | 1056254 |
Castle Cary Market House, also known as Castle Cary Town Hall, is a municipal building in the Market Place in Castle Cary, Somerset, England. The structure, which accommodates the offices of Castle Cary Town council as well as the Castle Cary and District Museum, is a Grade II* listed building.
The town received a royal charter, allowing it to hold markets, from Edward IV in 1468.[1] The market took the form of a series of stalls in the Market Place for over a century until the first market house was completed in 1616.[2] After the old building became dilapidated, and in anticipation of increased trade associated with a new railway station, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company, to be known as the "Castle Cary Market House Company" to finance and commission a new market house.[3]
The building was designed by Francis Penrose in the neoclassical style, built in yellow sandstone at a cost of £3,000 and was completed in 1855.[4] It was arcaded on the ground floor so that corn markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing southeast onto the Market Place. There was a colonnade, formed by columns surmounted by imposts and segmental arches, on the ground floor. Above the colonnade, there was a panel with a series of pointed recesses with alternating triangular and rounded windows, separated by short pilasters. The first floor was fenestrated by three tri-partite mullioned windows. The building also featured a slate roof and a central roof lantern.When parish and district councils were established under the Local Government Act 1894, the building became the meeting place for Castle Cary Parish Council.[3] At this time the building became known as the "Town Hall".[5]
The use of the ground floor as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great depression of British agriculture in the late 19th century.[6] The floor was used instead as a furniture store from the 1880s, and as a store for agricultural implements and tombstones by the turn of the century.[3]
The Castle Cary and District Museum was established at the back of a baker's shop in 1974, and then moved into the first floor of the market house a few years later.[7] [8] A room in the museum was subsequently dedicated to the life and work of Parson James Woodforde who was born at the Parsonage in nearby Ansford in 1740. He was later curate at Thurloxton before moving to Norfolk. For nearly 45 years he kept a diary recording an existence the very ordinariness of which provides a unique insight into the everyday routines and concerns of 18th century rural England.[9]
Unable to meet its commitment to keep the building in good state of repair, the Castle Cary Market House Company sold the building to South Somerset District Council in 1991.[10]