262 



Notes on the History of Here. 



after. These riotous proceedings must have been encouraged by 

 persons in a higher station of life than those punished. An old 

 lady lately residing at Bourton recollects a farmer's son riding 

 into the town every evening and blowing a horn, which was the 

 signal given for the assemblage of a band of roughs, who proceeded 

 to the commons and levelled the banks which had been erected 

 during the day. This seems more unaccountable since the tract 

 of land between Mere and Grillingham served only as a shelter 

 to rogues and horse-stealers. 



Tithes. 



Before the passing of the Tithe Commutation Act the tithes were 

 often taken in kind. This led to continual squabbles. In 1841 

 the Rev. Henry Wake, the Yicar, circulated the following state- 

 ment : — 



"The Rev. Henry Wake was inducted into the vicarage of Mere in 1813. A 

 surveyor was employed by him to value the vicarial tithes. His valuation was 

 £513 per annum clear of all parochial assessments. The Commissioners under 

 the Property Tax valued the vicarial tithes at £530. The valuation of the same 

 property by the Commissioners under the Inclosure Act of Mere Common was 

 £400 per annum. Mr. Wake authorised Mr. Chitty, of Shaftesbury, to make an 

 offer of the vicarial tithes to the parishioners at £300 per annum. This offer 

 was rejected. The property was in consequence collected in kind at considerable 

 expense and loss. Mr. Wake then granted a lease of the property for seven 

 years to a Mr. Dowbiggin, of Hextable Farm, in the county of Kent, at £400 

 per annum. In 1821 this lease expired. The tithes were again offered to the 

 parishioners at £300 per annum. This offer was not accepted, but the farmers 

 in return made an offer of £200 per annum. Under the peculiar circumstances 

 of the time (the spring being considerably advanced and the greater part of the 

 lambs having fallen, which constitute a principal portion of the vicarial tithes) 

 it was deemed prudent to accept the offer ; when, to the great surprise of the 

 vicar, the farmers of Mere refused to abide by their own offer, after such offer 

 was accepted by the vicar, and forced him to collect the property in kind, which 

 was effected at considerable expense and subsequent loss. At length, in 1824, 

 Mr. Phillips, the principal landholder in Mere, obtained a composition from the 

 parishioners of Mere of £260 per annum, secured to the vicar by a lease for a 

 term of seven years, granted to Messrs. Phillips, Robert White, and John Burfit, 

 which lease expired in 1831. In consequence of the depression in the price of 

 agricultural produce Mr. Wake allowed an abatement of £10 per ;ent. during 

 the last two years of the term, exclusive of which he relinquished his claim to 

 the poor on the tithe of potatoes." 



