224 



States on; % ffetot'g <rf Sim. 



By T. H. Bakbe. 



fgH|HE following collection of items relating to Mere, though 

 far from being a history of the place, may yet—being 

 here gathered together — assist some future historian in writing a 

 more detailed acoount of noteworthy occurrences and persons con- 

 nected with the parish. 



There is but little of original matter in this paper. It is simply 

 a collection of details extracted from parish books, documents, and 

 other available sources. It is moreover by no means exhaustive, for 

 space will not permit the mention of many minor occurrences, which, 

 although of interest to the local topographer, are not of sufficient 

 importance to attract the attention of the general public. The 

 writer has, therefore, endeavoured to record such matters as he 

 oonsiders most worthy of being handed down to posterity. Those 

 conversant with Wiltshire lore will find that many extracts have 

 been made from Sir E. 0. Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, but a connected 

 history of any place must necessarily contain much matter that has 

 been transcribed from one author by another ; he trusts, therefore, 

 that with all its defects the following feeble attempt to save from 

 oblivion many almost forgotten events will be looked upon as an 

 endeavour to fill a gap in local history ; a course which, had our 

 ancestors adopted it, we should not now be so much at a loss to 

 acoount for facts which have only come down to us by tradition 

 and which many receive with suspicion. 



The parish of Mere 1 is situated in the extreme south-west comer 



1 The parish of Mere must be understood to include the tithing of Zeals, 

 which has now been formed into a separate parish for both ecclesiastical and 

 civil purposes. It was severed for the latter by an order of the County Council 

 in 1896, and it was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1846, when a new 

 Church was built and endowed, the patronage being in the Vicar of Mere. It 

 has received an additional endowment since. 



