By T. H. Baker. 243 
son. Neither was King Henry VIII., in the life of his father after the death 
of Prince Arthur, his brother, by force of the said creation Duke of Cornwall ; 
for although he was the sole son and heir apparent of Henry VII., yet forasmuch 
as he was not the first begotten son he was not within the said limitation ; for 
Prince Arthur was his first begotten son.” 
Therefore, if the present Prince of Wales should happen to die 
before his mother, our Queen Victoria, his eldest son would not be 
Duke of Cornwall, unless created by special charter. 
1624, December Ist, Mere Park was leased by the crown to Sir 
Matthew Arundell, and the same year the demesnes and barton 
were leased to Robert Goldesborough and Stephen Awbrey, Gent. 
1627, May 5th, Deverill Long Wood and Knoll Wood were 
granted on three lives to Jasper Bannister, and the same year the 
demesnes, park, and residue of the manor, with the rights and 
appurtenances, were granted to Robert Phelips, Esq. 
1650, Parliamentary survey of the hundred of Mere, dated 
October 4th, says of Mere Park :— 
“ Disparked about sixty years since; lying in the Parish of Mere, surrounded 
with pales, hedges, and ditches, and divided into thirty-four several closes, 
bounded east by Knoyle Common and the lands of Hugh Grove, west by 
Gillingham Marsh, etc., and containing by admeasurement 495 acres 3 roods, 
which, at 11s. per acre, is worth £272 per annum. Also a messuage within the 
park on the south-west, commonly called the Lodge, consisting of a kitchen, hall 
and two other rooms below, three chambers, etc., worth per annum 18s. 4d.; 
which disparked park we find in tenure of Mr. Jasper Bannister, by the indenture 
of the assignees of the now Thomas Lord Arundell of Warder, dated 4th August, 
4 Car. for twenty-six years paying £200 per annum, and £65 every ten years for 
a heriot; the said Lord Arundell claiming to hold from Prince Charles by 
indenture, dated 22, Jac., for thirty-one years.” 
In the year 1649, when the estates of the Delinquents (so called) 
were sold, the manor of Mere was disposed of to Mr. Aubrey, of 
Reading, and probably held by him till the Restoration in 1660, 
when it reverted to the duchy. The manor, with lands and tene- 
ments belonging thereto, realised the sum of £8393 0s. 7d. 
Mere Park is then described as :— 
“ All that parcel of disparked ground cum pert. called Meere Parke, within the 
parish of Meere, Com’ Wilts, now divided into several closes of arable, pasture, 
and meadow, with the messuage called the Lodge, with another in the said 
