224 
Hotes om the History of Atlere. 
By T. H. Baker. 
HE following collection of items relating to Mere, though 
far from being a history of the place, may yet—being 
here gathered together—assist some future historian in writing a 
more detailed account of noteworthy occurrences and persons con- 
nected with the parish. 
_ There is but little of original matter in this paper. It is simply 
8 collection of details extracted from parish books, documents, and 
other available sources. It is moreover by no means exhaustive, for 
space will not permit the mention of many minor occurrences, which, 
although of interest to the local topographer, are not of sufficient 
importance to attract the attention of the general public. The 
writer has, therefore, endeavoured to record such matters as he 
considers most worthy of being handed down to posterity. . Those 
conversant with Wiltshire lore will find that many extracts have 
been made from Sir R. CO. Hoare’s Modern Wiltshire, but a connected 
history of any place must necessarily contain much matter that has 
been transcribed from one author by another ; he trusts, therefore, 
that with all its defects the following feeble attempt to save from 
oblivion many almost forgotten events will be looked upon as an 
endeavour to fill a gap in local history; a course which, had our 
ancestors adopted it, we should not now be so much at a loss to 
acoount for facts which have only come down to us by tradition 
and which many receive with suspicion. 
, The parish of Mere! is situated in the extreme south-west corner 
1The parish of Mere must be understood to include the tithing of Zeals, 
which has now been formed into a separate parish for both ecclesiastical and 
civil purposes. It was severed for the latter by an order of the County Council 
in 1896, and it was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1846, when a new 
Church was built and endowed, the patronage being in the Vicar of Mere. It 
has received an additional endowment since. 
