By T. H. Baker. 285 
Wintiam Baytry, 
who succeeded Thomas Chafyn, D.D., in 1645, is the first Vicar to 
whom a monumental inscription exists in the Church. His inscribed 
stone is almost illegible. It has been removed from the west end 
of the north aisle to the tower (1896). Whether the former was 
its original position is doubtful, as many memorials were moved in 
_ the restoration, A.D. 1856. 
Sir R. C. Hoare puts the date of his induction 1661, but from 
the inscription we gather he was Vicar forty-six years, and, as his 
death took place 1691, this brings us back to 1645, the date of Dr. 
Chafyn’s death. Therefore he must have been his immediate 
successor, but in consequence of the troublous times probably he 
was not formally inducted till after the restoration, 1660.! 
The following is all that is legible on his tombstone :— 
DEPOSITUM BAYLY 
VICARII MVN TI IN 
ECCLESIA MERA ANNos 46 
QUI OBIIT NON EMBRIS 
ANNO DOM I 
Epwarp GARRARD. 
Edward Garrard, who succeeded William Bayly as Vicar of Mere, 
is buried in the chancel. 
On a gravestone underneath the communion table is the following 
inscription :— 
Mr. Malden writes from the Diocesan Registry as follows :—‘ William 
Bayly, B.A., was not apparently Vicar of Mere before 1661. On the 11th 
November, 1661, he subscribed to the articles, &c., describing himself, in his 
own handwriting, as ‘admittendus et instituendus vicarius perpetuus vicarie 
perpetuze ecclesiz parochialis de Meere,’ and he was instituted the same day. 
He spells his name Bayly, the institution register calls him Baily. The records 
of 1645 are scanty, and there are none relating to Mere about that time.” 
That William Bayly lived at Mere during all the time of the Commonwealth 
is certain, as the registers contain entries of the baptisms of his children in 1647, 
1649, 1650, 1656, 1660, and he is described as “then minister of Mere,” except 
1650, when he is styled “ minister and vicar of Meere.” 
