General Notes

The town of Castle Cary has no recorded history prior to the Normans, although a Saxon charter mentioned Cari in 725 AD. According to the Somerset Domesday Book, Castle Cary was held before 1066 by the Saxon Alfsi. The subsequent Norman holder of Castle Cary was Walter de Douai, son of Urso of Douai near Lille in Normandy. He was at the Battle of Hastings with William the Conqueror. He held 37 manors and extensive lands in Devonshire and a great barony. His chief domain was at Bampton, and from him descended the Barons of Bampton. He was noted as an under-tenant of Roger de Courcelle. In 1086 Douai is mentioned in the Somerset Domesday book as holding Castle Cary which was his richest property in Somerset. Castle Cary or Kari in 1086 was a prosperous manor of 2,400  acres of plowland, of which 960 were held by the lord, 100 acres of meadow and woodland measuring one league by one half. It had three gristmills, 23 villagers, 20 smallholders, 17 plows, six slaves, eight swineherds, 50 swine 16 cattle and 117 sheep.

It is likely that early fortifications were built either by the Romans, Britons or the Saxons. At the time of the Norman Conquest (1066AD) the population of Cary was about 300 souls. By 1138 AD the Normans had built a castle at the foot of Lodge Hill, giving the town part of its name. By 1107, Castle Cary was held by Ralph Lovell whose father was probably Geoffrey de Douai, son of Walter de Douai, Baron Bampton who held Castle Cary at the time of Domesday. He was succeeded in 1121 by his son Baldwin Lovell, was succedded by Ralph II, a rebel against King Stephen. In 1138 King Stephen "beseiged Castle Cary with vigour and determination, and since his engine scattered fire and showers of stones among the beseiged and the pressure went on until their rations ran short, he at last compelled them to surrender." Later in the war in 1147, the king was fortifying Castle Cary and was set upon by the Earl of Glocester who routed him from the place. In 1166, Castle Cary was held once again by Henry Lovell, son of Ralph II. Although nearby earthworks can still be seen on the side of Lodge Hill, no trace of the original castle remains.

Archealogical examination of the site indicates that the keep was 78 feet square and of early Norman construction. The presence of many burnt stones suggest it was destroyed mainly by fire, probably about 1155. It may be that the Horse Pond is part of the ancient moat.Baron Lovel eventually became a supporter of King Stephen and continued as baron of Castle Cary after the end of the civil war. His son Henry Lovel who was tenant in chief at Castle Cary in 1166, married a certain Alice de Cary who may have been a co-heiress of the Bramptons. The relation between Allice de Cary and Adam de Cary is not known yet. According to Cary family history, Adam was a lord at Castle Kari in Somersetshire in 1198, forty years after the destruction of the castle fortifications, according to Sir William Pole. It may be that Adam held a portion of Castle Cary as sub-tenant of Ralph Lovel, son of Henry.

Castle Kari was four miles north of Cadbury Castle, the legendary Camelot of the of King Arthur. The town of Castle Cary now lies about 30 miles south of Bristol and springs near the town are the source of the River Cary. A certain Baron Dekari particpated in the Crusades in 1095, but his relation to Adam de Kary is not known.
Sources for this information:
Henry Grosvenor Cary, The Cary Family in England  p. 25
Sir Henry Saint-George, The Visitation of the County of Devon in the year 1620. Ed. by Frederic Thomas Colby. London, 1872. Harleian society. Publications ; v.6.
William Page, ed., The Victoria History of the Counties of England, (London, Constable, 1906- ). Somerset, vol. 2 p. 181-3
John Moris, ed. and Caroline Thorne, trans., Domesday Book, Chicester, 1980; volume 8, Somerset 24:17
William Page, ed., The Victoria History of the Counties of England, (London, Constable, 1906- ).  Somerset, vol. 2, p. 181
William Page, ed., The Victoria History of the Counties of England, (London, Constable, 1906- ). Somerset, vol.2, p 181-183
K.B.S. Keats-Rohan, Domesday Descendants, A Prosopography of People Ocurring in English Documents 1066 - 1166, II Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum (Boydell Press, 2002).  p. 1016 Text: K. R. Potter, editor & translator, Gesta Stephani, Oxford, 1976 p. 67-69 Text: K. R. Potter, editor & translator, Gesta Stephani, Oxford, 1976 p. 211-12 Text: K.B.S. Keats-Rohan, Domesday Descendants, A Prosopography of People Ocurring in English Documents 1066 - 1166, II Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum (Boydell Press, 2002). p. 1017 George Edward Cokayne, 1825-1911; The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant; London, (1910)  "Lovel" Text: George Edward Cokayne, 1825-1911; The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant; London, (1910) vol. 7, p. Text:
Brian J. L. Berry; The Ancestry of Elizabeth Yanconish Berry, (McKinney, Texas, 1989).