1Q6 PAPERS, ETC. 



time naTigable, and was the canal and port of the Abbot of 

 Glastonbuiy. This produced a considerable efFect in re- 

 lieving the countiy from its waters, and it is probable 

 during this period, and before the dissolution of the monas- 

 tery, in ] 545, the trees occupied the soil, and continued to 

 grow there. On the dissolution of that monastery an 

 interval elapsed, during which the property of the Abbot 

 feil into the hands of the crown, and that attention to the 

 canal and outlets for the water (which had been so care- 

 fully cleansed, under the positive injunctions of the Abbots 

 to thelr tenants, and formed a part of the covenants under 

 which they beld their land), became neglected and choked 

 up with weeds, so as to impede the course of the water 

 into the Axe and Brue. The result of this negligence 

 was, that the low lands became again covered with water, 

 surrounding the trees which grew on the surface, which 

 soon decayed at their roots, and were thi'own down by 

 storms. The plants which compose peat were again called 

 into activity, and soon covered these prostrate trees to the 

 depth of two or three feet, where they now lie, preserved 

 from decay by the antiseptic quality of the peat. 



On a subsequent drainage taking place, this marsh was 

 reduced to a lake about 500 acres in extent, called 

 Meare Pool, and in this state it continued tili the year 

 1800, when an Act of Parliament was obtained for per- 

 fecting the drainage ; the efFect of which has been to con- 

 vert the lake and morass into fine pasture land during the 

 suinmer, and it is annually enriched by the alluvial dcposits 

 brought down by the river Brue, which during the winter 

 months is suffered to overflow the district. 



By draining and dividing this bog into fields, by ditches, 

 a consolidation has taken place, and the surface rendered 

 capable of agricultural Operations, and from the improve- 



