Babcary

Coordinates: 51°03′15″N 2°37′19″W / 51.0541°N 2.6220°W / 51.0541; -2.6220

Babcary is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Somerton and 6 miles (9.7 km) south west of Castle Cary in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 248. It lies close to the River Cary and the A37.

History

The village was recorded in the Domesday Book as Babba Cari. The parish was part of the hundred of Catsash.

Within the parish is Wimble Toot Castle, a castle built between 1067 and 1069. Today the site forms a circular earthwork, 27.47 m across and 2.74 m high, with a ditch on the north-west and south-east sides, on the top of a ridge, overloking a brook which runs into the River Cary and the old Roman road of the Fosse Way.

Sir John Stawell, the Baron Stawell, claimed to be the lord of the manor of Babcary in 1594 and his family continued these claims until 1691.

The Red Lion Inn has 17th-century origins and is a grade II listed building.

The parish council, was concerned with the insanitary drainage system for the village, but rejected a mains water supply in 1931 as too expensive. Electricity was provided in 1947 but mains water was not supplied until the 1950s. Sewerage remained a serious problem in the 1970s and mains drainage was not provided until 1992.