Meare

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Meare
Somerset
Meare Fish House.jpg
Meare Fish House
Location
Grid reference: ST455415
Location: 51°10’12"N, 2°46’44"W
Data
Population: 1,304  (2011[1])
Post town: Glastonbury
Postcode: BA6
Dialling code: 01458
Local Government
Council: Mendip
Parliamentary
constituency:
Wells

Meare is a village and parish in Somerset, three miles north-west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels. The parish includes the village of Westhay and forms part of the hundred of Glaston Twelve Hides.[2]

History

Meare is a marshland village in typical Somerset "rhyne" country, standing on the site of pre-historic lake dwellings. The site of the Meare Lake Village is marked by groups of mounds. It has been occupied for thousands of years and some of the archaeological finds are now being reported.[3]

A 14th-century fish house at Meare was once the abode of Glastonbury Abbey fishermen,[4] who fished the, now drained, Meare Pool. The Manor Farmhouse was built at the same time as the summer residence of the Abbots from Glastonbury Abbey and is now a farmhouse. Along with its outbuildings the farmhouse has been designated as a Grade I listed building.[5]

Religious sites

The parish church of St Mary was formerly in the keeping of Glastonbury Abbey, and dates from 1323. It was built for Abbot Adam of Sodbury, and is a Grade I listed building.[6]

References

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