East Mere was probably a large Templar manorial farm, probably with a chaplain, bailiff, dependants and servants, and was probably loosely administered by Willoughton preceptory, which passed to the Hospitallers in 1338. No earthworks are apparent, but they were clear enough in the middle of the last century to be mapped by a local surveyor, who indicated the site was on the east side of the mere. This is now marked only by Shep's House, the rest of the East Mere farmstead having been rebuilt in the 1850s on its present site further south. By 1185 the Templars had a mill at Mere and John the priest occupied a house and 1.5 acres of land given by Robert of Ropsley. By 1242-43 Robert's successor Simon de Ropsley had given about 240 acres, possibly the basis of the manorial farm, whilst the inquest of 1185 shows that a similar amount had already been given by John D'Eyncourt. At the Dissolution East Mere passed into lay hands and by the middle of the 19th century was an owner-occupier farm belonging to Thomas Pears. The post medieval history of the site demonstrates how the concentration of property in the hands of monastic orders often led on to large lay estates with large farms in later centuries. {1}{2}{3}