By T. II. Baker. 



243 



sou. Neither was King Henry VIII., in the life of his father after the death 

 of Prince Arthur, his brother, by force of the said creation Duke of Cornwall ; 

 for although he was the sole son and heir apparent of Henry VII., yet forasmuch 

 as he was not the first begotten son he was not within the said limitation ; for 

 Prince Arthur was his first begotten son." 



Therefore, if the present Prince of Wales should happen to die 

 before his mother, our Queen Victoria, his eldest son would not be 

 Duke of Cornwall, unless created by special charter. 



1624, December 1st, Mere Park was leased by the crown to Sir 

 Matthew Arundell, and the same year the demesnes and barton 

 were leased to Eobert Goldesborough and Stephen Awbrey, (rent. 



1627, May 5th, Deverill Long Wood and Knoll Wood were 

 granted on three lives to Jasper Bannister, and the same year the 

 demesnes, park, and residue of the manor, with the rights and 

 appurtenances, were granted to Eobert Phelips, Esq. 



1650, Parliamentary survey of the hundred of Mere, dated 

 October 4th, says of Mere Park : — 



" Disparked about sixty years since ; lying in the Parish of Mere, surrounded 

 with pales, hedges, and ditches, and divided into thirty -four several closes, 

 bounded east by Knoyle Common and the lands of Hugh Grove, west by 

 Gillingham Marsh, etc., and containing by admeasurement 495 acres 3 roods, 

 which, at lis. per acre, is worth £272 per annum. Also a messuage within the 

 park on the south-west, commonly called the Lodge, consisting of a kitchen, hall 

 and two other rooms below, three chambers, etc., worth per annum 13s. 4e£. ; 

 which disparked park we find in tenure of Mr. Jasper Bannister, by the indenture 

 of the assignees of the now Thomas Lord Arundell of Warder, dated 4th August, 

 4 Car. for twenty-six years paying £200 per annum, and £5 every ten years for 

 a heriot; the said Lord Arundell claiming to hold from Prince Charles by 

 indenture, dated 22, Jac, for thirty-one years." 



In the year 1649, when the estates of the Delinquents (so called) 

 were sold, the manor of Mere was disposed of to Mr. Aubrey, of 

 Eeading, and probably held by him till the Eestoration in 1660, 

 when it reverted to the duchy. The manor, with lands and tene- 

 ments belonging thereto, realised the sum of £8898 0,s. 7d. 



Mere Park is then described as : — 



"All that parcel of disparked ground cum pert, called Meere Parke, within the 

 parish of Meere, Com' Wilts, now divided into several closes of arable, pasture, 

 and meadow, with the messuage called the Lodge, with another in the said 



