The Manor Farmhouse in

Meare Meare is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, north-west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels. The parish includes the village of Westhay. History Meare is a marshland village in typical Somerset "rhyne" country, standing on the s ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England, was built in the 14th century as the summer residence of the

Abbots Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

from

Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It wa ...

and is now a farmhouse. Along with its outbuildings the farmhouse has been designated as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. A building on the site in the late 13th century had a hall and south chamber, however little remains from the fabric of this building and the current structure was erected in the 14th. A chapel and cellar were included for the monks by Adam of Sodbury who was the abbot from 1323 to 1334. Richard Beere added further rooms in the early 16th century. The surrounding land provided an orchard and herb garden. There were four fish ponds. The nearby Abbot's Fish House was built around the same time as the house. The fish ponds surrounding the Fish House were recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 when they were tended by ten fishermen. The fishponds, which were connected with drains and gullies were up to long and wide. These were connected to the

Meare Pool Meare Pool (also known as Ferlingmere, Ferran Mere or Meare fish pool) was a lake in the Somerset Levels in South West England. Lake villages existed there in prehistoric times. During medieval times it was an important fishery, but following exte ...

and the

River Brue The River Brue originates in the parish of Brewham in Somerset, England, and reaches the sea some west at Burnham-on-Sea. It originally took a different route from Glastonbury to the sea, but this was changed by Glastonbury Abbey in the twelfth ...

. At one point 5,000

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s were caught each year.

Pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

Bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

and "white fish" were also caught. The two-storey building has a porch over the moulded doorway. The main hall was east of the entrance doorway and porch. The wing to the rear contains a large room on the upper floor, which contains a large stone fireplace with a stone hood. A stone figure in robes and mitre appears above the porch which is believed to represent Abbot Richard Whiting, who presided over Glastonbury at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

, and was imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

and executed on

Glastonbury Tor Glastonbury Tor is a hill near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless tower of St Michael's Church, a Grade I Listed building (United Kingdom), listed building. The site is managed by the National Trust and has be ...

in 1539. He is considered a martyr by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, which

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

him on 13 May 1895.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meare, Manor Farmhouse Houses completed in the 14th century 14th-century church buildings in England Grade I listed buildings in Mendip District Buildings and structures in Mendip District Farmhouses in England Grade I listed houses in Somerset

See also

References