266 Notes on the History of Mere. 



In 1563, November 5th, Sir John Thynne further sold to thdt 

 said Thomas Chafyn, Esq., the aisle or chantry chapel, 



" adjoining and placed on the sowthe side of the parish church of Meere aforesaid 

 wherein lately the late chantry priest of some certayne chantry, being in Meert 

 aforesaid, called the Chantry of the Blessed "Virgyn Mary, in Meere, used to say* 

 masse ; and which chappel or ile lately app'tained to the said chantry, and came 

 to the handes of our late Soverign Lord, of famous memory, King Edward th( 

 Sixth, by the dissolution of the said chantry, by forse of the Act of P'liamenj 

 made in the first yeare of the rayne, of the said late kynge, conc'ning giving oi 

 chantries to the saide late kinge, his hey res and successors, and after granted by 

 the said late kinge by his letters patents, amongest other things, to me the said 

 Sir John Thynne, and to one Lawrence Huyde, Gent, and to my heyres for ever." 



The grantees of the chantry and its endowment were both com- 

 missioners acting on behalf of the Crown at the suppression. The 

 chapel having been purchased by Thomas Chafyn, Esq., became 

 the burial-place of that family and their descendants, the Groves, of 

 Zeals, and contains many sepulchral memorials appertaining to both. 



But subsequent to this conveyance it appears that a chantry 

 bearing the name of Berkeley's was granted by Queen Elizabeth, 

 A.D. 1592, by letters patent to Edward Downinge and Roger 

 Mant, their heirs and assigns, together with certain lands, tene- 

 ments, etc. 



In 1609 the chantry lands* were granted by the King (James I.) 

 to Frances Phellips, and Richard Moore, (rent., their heirs and! 

 assigns, for ever, on payment of an annual fine of £3 17s. Id. 

 All which premises in Mere were formerly the property of the 

 Chantry of Mere. 



These chantry lands were afterwards held by Henry Andrews, 

 Esq., only son and heir to Sir Matthew Andrews, Knight, who was 

 buried at Mere, 16th March, 1711. 



Twenty tenements also belonged to the chantry, the rents of 

 which amounted to £11 4s., besides three tenements of Thomas 

 Stourton, valued at Is. 10d., and four of Mrs. Moore's at Is. 8d., 

 both of whom are described in an old court roll as tenants of the 

 chantry. 



There are still chantry rents collected at Mere, by the repre- 

 sentatives of the late Meyrick Bankes, Esq., whose ancestors 



