North Cadbury

"NORTH CADBURY, a parish in the hundred of Catsash, in the county of Somerset, 5 miles to the W. of Wincanton, Castle Carey is its post town. It is situated in a picturesque and fertile country, near the Yeovil and Weymouth section of the Great Western railway, and contains the hamlets of Galhampton and Woolston. Soon after the Conquest the manor formed part of the barony of Newmarch, and afterwards came to the Botreaux family, and through them to the Hungerfords, Courtneys, and Hastings. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Bath and Wells, of the annual value of £700, in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The church, which was rebuilt by Elizabeth Lady Botreaux in the year 1427, is dedicated to St. Michael. It stands on a hill, and is a large and handsome edifice, with an embattled tower. It contains a monument with effigies of Sir Francis Hastings, who died in 1596, and his lady. License was obtained in the reign of Henry V. to make the church collegiate, but this injunction was not executed. Near the church is the old manor-house, a large mansion built in 1581." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003