The Parish Church of S. Michael, Mere. 



21 



1220, lie caused to be made an inventory of the belongings of the 

 Church at Mere. 1 



The inventory, after describing the Church and three chapels in 

 the parish, proceeds to give very valuable information of Mere 

 Church. It states that : — 2 



"the Church is consecrated, the chancel uncovered ; the cemetery now first closed 

 against beasts. There is a tower with four bells." 



This shows that there was a very complete Church, having three 

 altars, a tower, and bells, at this early period, and that the chancel 

 was, from some reason, without a roof. The date — 1220 — would 

 exactly correspond with the characteristics of the earliest part of 

 the chancel. On the south side, eastward of the chapel, can be seen 

 the corbel-table which came under the eaves of the chancel of this 

 time, and there can be no doubt that the lower part of the east wall 

 of the chancel, including the string under the east window, the 

 three buttresses on east and south, and the north wall, are also 

 parts of the building which Dean Wanda found in process of con- 

 struction, the roof not yet being on, in 1220. But it was the usual 

 order in the erection of a new Church to build the chancel first, 

 and it is hardly probable that there would have been a nave with 

 three altars, tower, and bells, without a chancel : moreover, in the 

 east wall of the chancel can be seen stones bearing distinct traces 

 of fire ; these are used indiscriminately, and were not burnt in situ. 

 The chancel was, therefore, built with the materials of a building 

 which had probably been destroyed by fire. 



Until the discoveries made during some works of repair inside 

 the Church in 1895 there was no idea of there being earlier work 

 than the parts referred to above, and certainly the present tower 

 had all the appearance of having been built from the ground in the 

 fifteenth century, but on removing the modern plaster at the west 

 end of the nave we found that the present archway opening into 



1 By the kind assistance of Mr. A. R. Maiden I am enabled to give a literal 

 extract from the original document in the Dean's register at Salisbury, which 

 proves that those formerly published are inaccurate in some particulars. (See 

 Appendix C.) 



2 Sec Appendix H. 



