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Mere
Mere maps
Historic maps of Mere and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Mere maps
Mere area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Mere and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Mere
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Mere.
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Home Sweet Home
The house on the right of the photo was my childhood home. My family lived there until 1991.
Denes Avenue
I used to live in Denes Aveue which was lined with alternate apple and cherry trees. I lived at no 4 with the Pike family. I went to the infant's school which was split into two or three sections. There was one at the bottom of a lane, a second halfway up and a third towards the top, I believe. I also went to the secondary school. My surname was Oliver. Although I had lots of friends my memories are not good ones.
Wiltshire memories
Zeals School 1958-63
I attended Zeals C of E Primary school between 1958 and 1963. We actually lived over the border in Bourton (next to the White Lion pub) but the school was nearer than Bourton school. "Pop" Winter and his wife were the full time teachers and Miss Milne was the infants teacher.
The walk to school involved coming over the hill on the back lane down to the main road then past the shop run by Mr Arnold and up to The Bell and Crown (Sticky Smith).
Being a C of E school we all went next door to the church for a weekly service on (I think) Thursday morning. One of the eldest children would read the lesson and then as a "reward" would get to ring the bell on the following week. When there was a funeral in the chuchyard we were kept in at breaktime.
There were only about 30 pupils in the whole school and popular playground games included British Bulldog (this wouldn't be allowed... Read more
Zeals House
I was evacuated to Zeals during the war from London, to I think, Zeals House. I recall the airfield, and I remember a local pub, which I think had a yew tree outside. My folks and military members would drink and dance outside under the tree. I recall a aircraft crashing at the airfield and burning. I don't know if the pilot escaped. That was my first contact with aeroplanes, and my interest in aviation grew from there. I became a pilot, and am still flying in Africa at the age of 68. Would love to hear some history of Zeals and the airfield, and perhaps correspond with someone who remembers the war years .
Stourhead Gardens And The Bristol Cross
The Medieval Treasure Bristol Gave Away. The Bristol Cross is one of the smaller architectural treasures of Britain - but it's one which Bristol's worthies were only too glad to give away. Today the Cross has pride of place at Stourhead, the world-famous 18th-century pleasure gardens which the banker Henry Hoare built near Mere in Wiltshire. This medieval masterpiece was set up in Bristol in 1373 and it stood on High Street with its statues of our kings of England. More than two centuries later, in 1633, the figures of a further four monarchs were added, including one of Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth I, who had made such an impact during her visit to Bristol in 1574. But Bristol's civic leaders declared this lovely monument an unsafe nuisance in its position on one of the city's busiest roads and in 1733 it was dismantled and moved to College Green where, if it fell down, it was less likely to hurt anyone. Thirty years later the Cross was dismantled once again and this time its... Read more
Sixties Longleat
Many fond memories of Longleat over the last 46 years: the freedom we all enjoyed as villagers to roam across the estate - the sixth Marquess was always very generous in this respect. The remains of the American hospital were still much in evidence then; dad would drive the car to one of the old stone ramps so that he could work underneath it! We'd walk across the park from Corsley before the reserve was built, and when it was finished and the lions introduced, we all worried that one might escape, but to our knowledge, they never did! Mum worked part time for the catering company J.G. Boyes who originally set up a cafe marquee near the house; this later moved to the new cafe/restaurant building that stands today. Dad also got a p/t job driving a Boyes ice cream van based in the park. Other memories include the pop concerts mounted on the front steps of the house including the Rolling Stones I seem to remember, but sadly... Read more
Gamekeeper at Longleat.
Hi Geoff, yes I was on the Longleat Estate in the 1960s, only for three years, I was gamekeeper, on the Corsley side of the Estate. Mr Minter owned the shooting rights over the Estate, with Mr Bill Buckett retained by Lord Bath to manage the deer herd in the park, and the lakes around Longleat House,. I started work at Longleat a few months before the lions arrived. After working for Mr Minter for one year, he decided to let off the Corsley side of the Estate, together with Lower Woods and Rodenbury, to a shooting syndicate, called The Corsley Syndicate. I was taken on as their gamekeeper, our young family lived in Sturford Lane, but after two years of hard work, I realized the large wooded areas of Longleat were more than I could sensibly manage, so I then took a gamekeeper's job on a smaller estate at Codford in the Wylye valley. But I have many happy memories of Longleat.
