240 



Notes on the History of Mere, 



to William Stourton, on a repairing lease for five years at 66s. per 

 annum, of 



" Our Lodge and the herbage of our Park of Mere ; our beasts of chase to be 

 also reasonably kept up " (ultra rationabilem sustentationem ferarum nostrarum). 



The Stourtons had also long been watching for the chance of 

 purchasing it. 



1602. The revenue of 



" The Dutchie of Cornwall from the Mannor of Meere in the Countie of 

 Wilts, the yeerely rent is £89 „ 15 „ 10 ob." (History of the Ancient and 

 Modern Estate of the Dutchy of Cornwall collected out of the Records of the 

 Tower by Sir John Dodridge, Knight. 1630.) 



Mere Park. 



Sir Eichard Colt Hoare says " This appears to have been in 

 former times a royal residence, and was stocked with deer." Why 

 he considered it to have been a royal residence he does not say, 

 neither does he give us any ancient authority which confirms his 

 assertion, and as it is certain that a royal palace existed at 

 Gillingham it seems altogether improbable that another should be 

 coeval with it in the same locality. As to the fact of there being 

 a palace at Gillingham, Hutchins, the Dorset historian, says : — 



" In the forest was anciently a palace, built by the Norman or Saxon kings 

 for their residence when they came here to hunt. It stood half a mile east from 

 the church in the way from Gillingham to Shaftesbury, near two small rivers on 

 a level ground encompassed by a moat, now dry. The foundations are still to 

 be seen, though not a stone of it is left. King Henry I. passed some time here. 

 It was repaired or re*built by King John, who made visits here each year from 

 1204 to 1214 inclusive, and in 1250 — 53 (the year that the castle was built at 

 Mere for the King's brother), 1261 — 1267 much work was done at the royal 

 palace here. King Edward I. spent his Christmas and was here also in April, 

 1278 ; after this it appears to have fallen to decay. The site is still called 

 " King's Court." 



With these facts before us we are not justified in supposing Mere 

 Park ever to have been a royal residence, unless very strong evidence 

 is brought forward to support such an assertion. 



Doubtless the park was kept stocked with deer for the King's 

 use, or for the Duke of Cornwall's, for many generations, and 

 probably the mansion there was occupied by the steward of the 



