326° Notes on the History of Mere. 
“The cost of the edifice, with its fences, conveyance of site, &c., will be £1990,. 
exclusive of the repair-fund of £5 per cent. on the outlay, and of the endowment, 
which it is hoped may be principally supplied by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 
into whose hands the great tithes will eventually fall. 
“It is proposed to erect a National School for the education of the poor children 
of the district forthwith, and as soon as the necessary funds can be raised, a 
house of residence for the officiating minister ; the former will cost about £200, 
towards which the Committee of Council and other Public Boards will probably 
contribute £100, the latter £800, towards which the Church Union Society of the 
Diocese of Salisbury has given £100 and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners may 
be expected, as soon as they have funds at their disposal, to contribute £400 
[Then follows a list of subscriptions, amounting to £2335 4s. 6d.] 
The Church was designed by Messrs. Scott & Moffatt, and 
executed by Mr. C. Kirk, of Sleaford, the builder of the Martyr’s 
Memorial in Oxford. It was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of 
Salisbury on the 14th May, 1846. 
The first stone was laid on the 11th September, 1845, on a site 
presented by His Grace the Duke of Somerset, and bore the fol- 
lowing inscription :— 
“Tn honorem 
Dei Omnipotentis, Sanctissimze et Individuze Trinitatis 
Ecelesize Sancti Martini in Zeals 
Angularis hicce lapis positus est 
Anno Salutis mpccextLy. 
Opus benedicat Deus per Jesum Christum.” 
The Church is in the Decorated style, and is built of stone 
quarried in the neighbourhood with dressings of Bath Oolite. The 
seats are “free and unappropriated for ever.” It affords aceommo- 
dation for three hundred persons. 
The cost of the edifice with its fences, conveyance of site, &e., 
was about £2000. In 1876 Miss Julia E. Chafyn Grove spent 
nearly £1000 in the erection of a spire, the addition of six bells, 
an organ, and outlay on the roof and chancel. 
Wotverron Howe 
is an artificial cavern, excavated for the purpose of quarrying the 
greensand stone, which is admirably adapted for building. Tradition 
says that that used about Mere Church was obtained from this 
source, but the amount of stone of this character there used would 
