22 The Parish Church of S. Michael, Mere. 
the tower had been inserted in an older rubble wall; that this wall 
was carried above the roof of the coeval nave (and therefore pre- 
sumably that of a former tower) ; that the tailing stones of the 
drip-course (the projection being cut off) which came over the nave 
roof of the then existing nave remain; and that the fifteenth 
century tower arch at its apex cut into an earlier opening coeval 
with the wall. It is obvious that the tower was built before this 
archway was inserted—it is inconceivable otherwise that the narrow 
piece of the early wall (the distance between the buttress and arch- 
stone, both of later work, being in one place only 8in.) would have 
been left. 
It will be observed that the rubble wall stops at the apex of the 
weather tabling horizontally, for the full width, and the Perpen- 
dicular work is started with a course of wrought stone about 12in. 
deep, the face of the wall over setting back 5in. and the top of this 
course weathered off. The builders of the present tower and nave 
probably at first intended to retain a smaller arch of the early tower, 
but afterwards resolved to put a new one in better proportion with 
their own work. It was a bold thing to raise so lofty a structure 
on one wall of old work of this kind whilst building the other 
three anew from the ground, and they probably relied on their 
massive angle buttresses for support. 
A further discovery, which is of value as a clue to the period at 
which this early work was built, is that of the charred end of one 
of the wall plates of the nave roof, which has now been carefully 
protected by glass. This indicates a nave of very early proportions 
—it was 15ft. 1lin. wide between the wall plates, 25ft. 3in. to the 
top of the walls (or nearly twice its width in height), and 37ft. 2in. 
to the apex of the roof. Here, then, we have, surely, the remains 
of a Savon Church ! 
The rude arched opening, about 3ft. wide, into which the later 
arch cuts, is built of rubble masonry, and doubtless gave access to 
the space between the ceiling and roof of the nave. 
It is a matter of doubt at what period this early Church was 
burnt: the whole of it could not have been destroyed at the time 
of Dean Wanda’s visitation (otherwise where were the three altars ?) 
