Geoffrey Grigson in A Gazetteer To Wessex, in the book About Britain No.2, Wessex, A New Guide Book With A Portrait By Geoffrey Grigson, published by Collins in 1951, noted:
Mere, Wiltshire. One of the forgotten little towns of Wessex. Its grey isolation has never been invaded by the railway and the town has an undamaged unity, even if its buildings, one by one, are not remarkable. The mainly 15th century church is spaciously divided by oak screens of great delicacy. Note the brasses and the early 19th century wall tablet in the chancel depicting a coffin. The poet William Barnes kept his first school in the Chantry House near the church. Elaborate iron work outside the Ship Inn. There is a fine descent into Mere from Salisbury Plain. Eight miles north-west of Shaftesbury.