THE LAKE VILLAGES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF GLASTONBURY. 259 



verted into a lagoon, which in more recent times was gradually re- 

 placed by a series of extensive meres and swamp. In a.d. 1500 five 

 meres still existed, the largest body of water, called ' Meare Pool,' 

 being at that time five miles in circumference. 



The Lake Village at Meare lies three miles west of the now fully- 

 explored Glastonbury Lake Village, in the peat moor adjoining the 

 north margin of a low ridge of ground, formerly an island, on which 

 the modern village of Meare now stands, and from 400 to 600 feet 

 south of the Eiver Brue. Before the Brue was embanked, and the 



draining of the swamps had been attempted in monastic times, Meare 

 Pool was of far greater extent, and included the Lake Village within 

 the limits of its south-west border. The Lake Village now stands in 

 fertile pasture, the level of the surrounding fields being from 12 to 

 H feet above the mean tide level, and is situated 11 miles south-east 

 from the present coast-line at Burnham. The ancient site consists of 

 two distinct groups of low circular mounds A and B, separated by a 

 level piece of ground from 200 to 300 feet in width. So far as a super- 

 ficial survey permits the two settlements appear to consist of about a 

 hundred dwellings covering parts of seven fields (not five as formerly 



