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Judy Nash visits the former island communities that comprise the
village of Meare
The three islands of Feramere, Godenere and Westeie once formed the
highpoints in the North Somerset moors that are sandwiched between the
Polden Hills and the Mendips. This otherwise lowlying landscape was
often flooded and at times 'overflown by the sea', and early man no
doubt took refuge on these higher points if his lake settlement became
threatened. Until extensive drainage work took place in the seventeenth
century, the area was thought to be unhealthy to visitors with only
longstanding residents developing an immunity to waterborne diseases.
Today, the extensive village of Meare and its hamlets of Godney and
Westhay are located on these former islands and stand in a lush green
landscape of pasture that provides an early bite of grass for animals
once the threat of flooding has passed.
Meare's best known feature must be the Abbot's Fish House that is now
surrounded by pasture but when in use had stood on the South West Bank
of Meare Pool, from which the village takes its name. The Pool was so
extensive that it was said to have had a circumference of five miles and
was flooded for 500 acres in winter. It teemed with fish that provided
the monks of Glastonbury Abbey with ample supplies for Friday meals and
during Lent but after the Dissolution appears to have deteriorated to a
stagnant pool that was finally drained late in the sixteenth century.
Not only did the Fish House provide a home for the chief fisherman or
water bailiff with a living hall on the first floor but a storage house
for salted or smoked fish.
The building is thought to have been erected at about the same time as
the neighbouring Manor House when Adam de Sodbury was Abbot between 1322
and 1335. In 1861 the building had been 'permitted to fall to ruin but
by late efforts by the Archaeological Society some portions have been
saved'. 'Kelly's Directory records, and thanks to their efforts and
recent ones by English Heritage, this gem of a building stands proud on
the outskirts of the village.
Its closest neighbours occupy a small road named Porter's Hatch and
from the bridge across the River Brue there are clear views to
Glastonbury Tor.
Kerelwach, King of the West Saxons gave Meare, Godney and Westhay to the
Abbey of Glastonbury and it is said that some five hundred years after
the death of Saint Beon, or Beonna, the monks disinterred his bones at
Meare in 1091 and reburied them at Glastonbury Abbey.
Although the parish church was dedicated to St Mary when it was rebuilt
in 1323 the south chapel has been dedicated to St Beon in recent years.
Kelly's comments on the neighbouring Manor House in 1861 are far from
complimentary. 'Noble are the relics still remaining of the former
greatness of Meare. The old manorial residence is sadly mutilated by
ignorance and covetousness. Here are courtly rooms degraded and its
beautiful windows blocked up'. They continue in the same vein about the
parish church with 'six bells and an ancient clock' with possibly a
replacement for the earliest clock rowed from Glastonbury in 1774!
'The church has been much mutilated since the time of the Reformation by
unseemly and wretched improvements which are now gradually being
corrected'.
Today there is a light, airy interior to the nave which is lit by shafts
of light through the clerestory windows which contrasts with the heavy,
dark, but beautiful, timberwork of the chancel roof which would not be
out of place in a medieval banqueting hall.
The nave roof was restored prior to 1859 'under the direction of Mr
W. White FSA and the church, excluding the tower completely restored
under the supervision of Mr Buckle, Diocesan architect and re-opened May
18th 1897'.
In 1903 the massive embattled west tower was also restored and the bells
re-hung and the combined costs for both amounted to £1130 and during
this work the rood loft doorway was rediscovered.
However, a brass plaque in the church refers to the church being
'restored and reseated' and re-opened on St Matthew's Day 1870 by Lord
Arthur Hervey, Bishop of Bath and Wells. The church interior is full of
interest and a walk around the outside of the building continues the
theme of interesting carvings with small heads carved in stone on each
side of the old windows and figures and animals at the corners of the
roof parapet.
When leaving the church do not miss the pair of hinges on the outer
door. They are thought to date from 1323 and are surely the finest
examples in the country.
By 1906 the Manor House was described as 'remarkably fine. Two blocks
are at right angles to each other, one anciently a hall spaciously
appointed with elegant windows containing Decorated tracery. The other
lock strongly buttressed and has a projecting chimney stack'. On the
opposite side of the road is the original school that was 'built by
subscription' in 1840 and is now on the market for conversion to two
dwellings.
In 1861 Meare boasted a 'National School for boys and girls' with
George Williams and his wife as teaching staff and Meare day school run
by Mrs Rebecca Denman and another at Westhay by Mrs Maria Hayes.
Thirty years later 'Meare's Boys established in 1874 for 70 pupils' had
been enlarged to take 100, although it usually averaged around 66 and
the 'girls and infants' opened in 1880 for 130 children was usually
attended by as many as 86 who seem to have had just the one teacher Miss
Alice Richards. In 1904 six managers were appointed to Meare school
board and six others to Westhay 'established in 1891 for 35 girls and 35
infants' with the girls taught by Miss A. L. Williams, perhaps a
daughter of the staff of Meare school in 1861, and the infants by Miss F
Gardiner. Today a modern junior school stands to the rear of the 1840
school buildings.
Meare could boast Independent, Baptist and Primitive Methodist Chapels
in 1861.
Today Meare Independent Evangelical Church, built in 1861 'with
residence attached' still plays an important role in the village holding
regular services, Sunday Schools and meetings of the Bright Hour group.
Sturdy dwellings, grand houses of various architectural styles and large
farmhouses all stand in close proximity in the village centre and close
by is the village war memorial that cost £120 just after the First
World War. A walk around the village can be more peaceful by taking the
network of surfaced walkways that skirt the busy through road.
Acreage of the village was said to be 2800 acres and, not surprisingly,
much of this was in permanent pasture. The soil was described as 'clayey
with subsoil turf' and this gives a clue to the evolving industry of the
area in the twentieth century.
In 1906 the 'Eclipse Peat Manufacturing Company, Moss litter
manufacturers of Great Plain, Offices at Shapwick' advertised
extensively. John Franks declared he was a 'farmer and peat merchant'
while George Godfrey just specialised in turf and Charles and Henry
Williams were 'turf dealers' at Westhay.
BY 1923 there had been further expansion. 'A large trade is carried on
here in peat fuel' and although perhaps less extensive today as we
become more environmentally. aware, the industry still continues closeby.
No visit to the area would be complete without a trip to the Peat Moors
Visitors' Centre where the history of the area is brilliantly
interpreted. An Iron-age reconstructed settlement was built by County
Council archeaologists in 1992 and contains a trio of Soay sheep and
their lambs in summer and close by is the Westhay Moor Nature Reserve.
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