Meare No. 2 / Ferlingmere / Ferramere / Mere

There is an entry for Meare [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST4541/meare/] [accessed 8 May 2018], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Phelps (1836) notes: "An ancient Anglo-Norman font was removed, and still exists, and a more modern one introduced when the church was enlarged." Pevsner (1958), in his entry for Croscombe, mentions the fonts at Meare and Weston Zoyland as sharing the "series of heavy horizontal mouldings"; Pevsner's entry for Meare (ibid.) reports the font as Perpendicular, of an unusual design. The entry for this church in Historic England [www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=267766] [accessed 8 May 2018] reports an "Octagonal Decorated font with a series of bold mouldings" in this church, and does not mention an earlier font in it. The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Somerset, vol. 9, 2006) notes: "A spurious charter of King Edgar, dated 971 and recorded by William of Malmesbury in the 12th century, alludes to chapels on the islands of Meare, Godney, and Marchey. These capellae were expressly distinguished from the ancient parish churches (ecclesiae parochiales) and their dependencies but like them were under the special jurisdiction of the abbot of Glastonbury and outside the control of the bishop. [...] That at Meare presumably became the parish church of St. Mary. [...] The parish church of St. Mary was consecrated in 1323 in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, All Saints, and especially St. Benignus, presumably after the building of the nave, chancel, and embattled west tower. [...] A font, described as Norman, [...] was replaced before 1839 by one in Perpendicular style". The VCH entry (ibid.) further notes: " A plain stone bowl removed from the fish house to Wells Museum in 1933 has been described as a Saxon font: ch. guide (n.d.) but was possibly for salting fish: inf. from Wells Museum." The present font consists of an octagonal basin on an octagonal base, all covered in parallel mouldings; the font has a definitely modern look, and it is not clear to us whether it is a modern font or an older one drastically re-tooled.