Babcary, along with the hamlets of Foddington and Steart are listed in the Domesday Book. They suggest the population at the time of the Norman invasion was about 215 people and it’s only about 30% more today; so not much changes.
From the evidence of bronze age barrows, iron age round houses, and Roman remains we can see that the village, or human settlement at least, on this site goes way back into pre history. We can be sure that the one constant, farming, has been going on here, year in year out, for a good four thousand years. Babcary is famous for nothing and yet, in the meagre records of the parish history, all human life is here.
This part of the site is not intended to provide a comprehensive history of the parish (or to record the one minor world first that we can claim) but rather as a place to archive old documents and photographs as a resource for anyone wanting to study further or just curious.
The name “Babcary” is very ancient, Old English or Celtic in origin, probably some form of “Babba’s Cary” i.e. land beside the river Cary owned or occupied by Babba.
Foddington (Old English for a fodder enclosure) is a shrunken medieval village. There are signs of a more extensive settlement in the fields to the east of Standerwick House.
Steart (Old English for a tongue or spit of land) is another shrunken medieval village which sits on a small rise above the large low lying often waterlogged plain that extends south to Steart Hill. It was described in Tudor times as “a place that hath its extraordinary foulness and dirt recompensed with as much fertility”.
Babcary Home Guard platoon, behind Church Farm 1941
Timeline
- Bronze age barrows at Wimble Toot and in the Wildlife Meadows
- Iron age round house markings in fields to the north of the parish
- Minor finds of Roman pottery and the Roman Fosse Way is the western boundary of the parish
- Holy Cross church – the site is thought to be Saxon in origin although the current building is mainly 13/14th century
- Medieval jewelled wooden chalice found at Wheatlawn Farm
- Perry Hill – archaeological evidence of a medieval manor house or possibly Roman villa
- Standerwick Farm – medieval moated manor house at Foddington
- Some evidence of medieval chapels at both Steart & Foddington
- Extensive evidence of old ridge and furrow ploughing in fields throughout the parish
- Red Lion – seventeenth century pub but possibly somewhat earlier
- 17th century – some of the oldest houses such as Craddocks Farm
- 18th century – many of the older farmhouses including Manor Farm (the old old rectory)
- 19th century – most of the old stone houses including the former Wesleyan Chapel in Main Street, old school in Church Street and the old Rectory.
- Most of the older houses are built on the site of earlier houses. About 60% of the current houses are shown on the parish tithe map of 1839.
Contact for more information (or if you have any old Babcary photos or documents that you would like share): Simon Hoar
Email: sihoar@yahoo.co.uk
Babcary Fete, Fancy Dress procession, Main Street 1930s
Benjamin Barrington, the village baker about 1910
Babcary Post Office, Main Street about 1900
Sparkford Vale Hunt on the village green 31st December 1913
Babcary Boy
Stan Payne, who grew up here in the 1920s, wrote a delightful monthly column in the newsletter for many years full of anecdotes about his childhood in the village and all the characters who lived here under the pseudonym “Babcary Boy”. This has been made into a paperback book, with old photographs and maps and is available for £10. Email sihoar@yahoo.co.uk to purchase a copy.
