He constructed at Clovelly a harbour wall, surviving today, described by Risdon as ""a pile to resist the inrushing of the sea's violent breach, that ships and boats may with the more safety harbour there"". Clovelly's main export product was herring fish, which formerly appeared at certain times of the year in huge shoals, close off-shore in the shallow waters of the Bristol Channel, and such a harbour wall was a great benefit to the village fishermen, tenants of the Cary lords of the manor. He married three times:  William Cary (1576–1652), son and heir of George Cary (1543-1601), was Justice of the Peace for Devon, MP for Mitchell, Cornwall, in 1604, eldest son and heir by his father's first wife. He is sometimes said to be the model for "Will Cary" featured in "Westward Ho!", the 1855 novel by Charles Kingsley (1819–1875), who appears in the narrative concerning the Spanish Armada in 1588, although he would have been a boy aged just 12 at the time. However the "daring foreign exploits attributed to him are entirely fictional". Kingsley spent much of his childhood at Clovelly as his father was Rev. Charles Kingsley, Curate of Clovelly 1826-1832 and Rector 1832-1836. Indeed the author's small brass monumental tablet is affixed to the wall of the church under the mural monument of Sir Robert Cary (1610–1675), eldest son of William Cary (1576–1652). He married three times:  Sir Robert Cary (1610–1675), eldest son and heir of William Cary (1576-1652), was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Charles II. He died unmarried and without children. His mural monument survives in Clovelly Church, erected by his younger brother and heir George Cary (1611–1680) and inscribed as follows:  Rev. George Cary (1611–1680), the second son of William Cary (1576-1652), (1611-1680) was a Professor (Doctor) of Divinity, Dean of Exeter (amongst other duties responsible for the maintenance and decoration of the cathedral building) and Rector of Shobrooke in Devon. He was one of the "Worthies of Devon" of John Prince (died 1723). He married Anne Hancock, daughter of William Hancock (died 1625), lord of the manor of Combe Martin, Devon, by whom he had numerous children.