variously inscribed " Meare Church Tower / all in a very clear & definate expression/ Meare/ July 18/ 1854"
The Church of St Mary in Meare, Somerset, England, 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.
There is a legend that the church was built on the site of a cell of the monk Saint Beonna (also Benen or Beon), who was later confused with Benignus of Armagh, between the 5th and 9th centuries. His remains was moved to Glastonbury Abbey in 1091.
The current chancel and tower date from the building's construction in 1323 when it was consecrated by John Droxford, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Around 1470 the nave was rebuilt by Abbot John Selwood and the work completed by Abbot Richard Beere. The church has a 15th-century stone pulpit, wooden chest from 1705 and candelabra from 1777. The tower holds a peal of six bells.
The parish is part of the benefice of Glastonbury St John the Baptist and St Benedict with Meare, which is part of the Glastonbury deanery.
Meare is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels. The parish includes the village of Westhay.
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.
A 14th-century fish house at Meare was once the abode of Glastonbury Abbey fishermen, 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.
The parish was part of the hundred of Glaston Twelve Hides.
Richard Suter (1797–1883).
Richard Suter was born in Greenwich, Kent on 30th March 1798, to William Suter and his wife Sarah Knights. On 7th January 1825 he married Anne Ruth Burn.
English architect. As Surveyor to The Fishmongers' Company he designed the severe Presbyterian churches for Ballykelly (1825–7) and Banagher (1825) on the Company's Estate in County Londonderry, drawings of which were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1827. He was also responsible for the Model Farm (1823–4), the Lancasterian Schools (1828–30), the Company Agent's House (1830–2—now a hotel, much altered), a range of houses on the south side of the main road (1823–4), the lodge in the Presbyterian churchyard (1828), and the Dispensary (1829), all at Ballykelly, and all Classical. As Surveyor to Trinity House Corporation, he designed houses that were erected by Thomas Cubitt in 1821–3 on a site adjoining Trinity House. For The Fishmongers' Company he designed St Peter's Almshouses, Wandsworth, London (1849–51), and The Old School-House, Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk(1859), in an Elizabethan style.
On the 1841 Census Richard, an architect and lawyer, can be found living in London with his wife Ann (listed as Ruth) and their two children, Richard George and Andrew Burn. Living with them is Edward D Suter. 1851 finds the family living in Tottenham Court in London, by this time Andrew had left the home, but I am unable to trace him on the 1851 Census. In 1860 Andrew marries Amelia Damaris Harrison. Both Richard George and Andrew were to become ordained ministers, with Andrew later becoming a Bishop and emigrating to New Zealand. Sadly in 1854 Anne Ruth was to pass away. In 1861, widowed Richard, Justice of the Peace for Maidenhead, is living at Castle Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire. In 1862 he married Elizabeth Anne Pocock. In 1871 and 1881 Richard and Elizabeth are still living in Castle Hill. Richard was to pass away on 1st March1883.
Richard Suter & Annesley Voysey, architects, had their office at number 35 Fenchurch Street, but they did not have it all to themselves as they shared the premises with W.C. Franks, a tea broker, who will get a separate post some other time. The earliest mention I found of Richard Suter in Fenchurch Street is in 1832 when he is listed at that address in a list of contributing members of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. It says that he had been a member since 1829, but that does not mean he was already at 35 Fenchurch Street in that year.(1) In fact, that seems unlikely as the Sun Fire Office records give Messrs. Short and Co., merchants, as paying the insurance premium on the premises in May 1830. The Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 give the year 1827, but I do not know on what evidence. When Suter and Voysey became partners is also uncertain, but they had known each other since at least 1825 as Suter is named as one of the executors of Voysey’s will which was dated 22 July, 1825. The address given for Suter in the will is Suffolk Street, Southwark. Voysey then lives at Conway Street, Fitzroy Square.