Meare Fish House

The only surviving monastic fishery building in England, this housed the Abbot of Glastonbury's water bailiff and provided facilities for fish-salting and drying.

The Fish House was built for Glastonbury Abbey in the 1330s. It stands in a beautiful position by the site of a long-drained lake (the ‘mere’) on the Somerset Levels. The building’s design shows that it was not meant, as usually claimed, for processing or storing fish, but as a house.

As such it is of interest for its excellent preservation, its quality despite its small size, and its peculiar and precocious internal planning. Its name does, however, derive from its use as the occasional residence of the abbey’s official in charge of the lake and its fishery.