home page   what's new?   email bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk to request updates (please mention Rutland Village by Village) or to offer new information   Rutland Village by Village only WWW Village by Village Ashwell Ayston Barleythorpe Barrow Barrowden Beaumont Chase Belmesthorpe Belton-in-Rutland Bisbrooke Braunston-in-Rutland Brooke Burley Caldecott Clipsham Cottesmore Edith Weston Egleton Empingham Essendine Exton Glaston Great Casterton Greetham Gunthorpe Hambleton Horn Ketton Langham Leighfield Little Casterton Lyddington Lyndon Manton Market Overton Martinsthorpe Morcott Normanton North Luffenham Oakham Pickworth Pilton Preston Ridlington Ryhall Seaton South Luffenham Stoke Dry Stretton Teigh Thistleton Thorpe by Water Tickencote Tinwell Tixover Uppingham Wardley Whissendine Whitwell Wing This site sponsored by   Heart of Albion

Brooke Brooke church photographed in 2000. Brooke is situated near Braunston-in-Rutland, about three miles (4.8 km) south-west of Oakham. The village is near the source of the River Gwash and the brook which gives Brooke its name forms part of the parish boundary. The Old Rectory opposite the church is probably the oldest surviving house in the village. Brooke Priory The only monastery in Rutland, an Augustinian priory owned by St Mary's Abbey, Kenilworth, with only three canons, was founded here before 1153. Nothing of this priory survives above ground. The land was sold in 1549 to Andrew Noel who built Brooke House, of which only the octagonal lodge (converted to a dovecote in the eighteenth century) now survives. King James VI and I stayed at Brooke in August 1612 as a guest of Edward Noel. The Brooke Reliquary was discovered in around 1805 in the cellar of Priory House. This small enamelled casket dates from the thirteenth century and was made in workshops at Limoges, France. It is now on display at Rutland County Museum. Brooke Priory from R.F. Hartley The Medieval Earthworks of Rutland 1983. Extensive earthworks of formal gardens, perhaps incorporating earlier earthworks from the priory, also survive. The monastic buildings were rebuilt as a domestic house (I think in the early seventeenth century) but this was demolished by Cromwell's troops during the Civil Wars. The cellars from the seventeenth century house survive under the red brick house now on the site, known as Brooke Priory. Stone from the medieval priory was possibly used to re-front Quaintree Hall House in Belton in Rutland. Allegedly there was an underground tunnel from the Priory to Launde, about four miles to the west. According to oral history recorded in the early 1970s 'The last man known to have been in the tunnel was a Frank Jones in 1900 who entered at the Launde end.' The reality of these improbably legendary tunnels is that medieval monastic sites were constructed over substantial stone-lined drains, often about four feet high. They ran as far as the nearest watercourse. St Peter's Church Interior of Brooke church. Photograph taken in 2000. St Peter's church is very attractively situated. It has a rather idiosyncratic thirteenth century tower that appears to taper outwards and Romanesque south doorway of about 1160, rebuilt at some time with a pointed apex.   The south doorway.   The twelfth century font inside Brooke church. The north arcade is also Romanesque, dating from the mid-twelfth century, as is the square font decorated with arcading. The chancel, chapel, north aisle and south porch were all rebuilt in 1579, which is an unusual time for church building. The box pews and pulpit are also late sixteenth century. In the chapel there is a fine effigy depicting Charles Noel, who died aged only 28 in 1619. Thankfully the restoration of 1878–9 made no changes to the interior, so the visitor to this church walks into a church that has changed little in over 400 years (although the seating in the north-east of the nave is probably a result of the nineteenth century restoration). No other church in the country has remained as such a 'time capsule' from the late sixteenth century. The lack of unnecessary ecclesiastical 'furnishings' adds to the simple grandeur of the building. The church appeared in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice.   Late twelfth century hinges of the north door. Look out for the medieval parish chest made from a solid log and the late twelfth century hinges of the north door that resemble fish bones or menacing centipedes (similar to those at Barrowden). The parish also owns a 'Judas bible'; so called because a misprint in St Matthew's Gospel substitutes 'Judas' for 'Jesus'. Brooke water mill 'Brooke Corn Mill' in 1884. The close proximity to Brooke Priory implies there was a mill here from the twelfth century. Victoria County History page for Brooke. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2026 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/rutland

Rutland's history home page what's new? glossary bibliography Rutland's geology Rutland's boundaries Rutland's rivers long, long ago prehistoric Rutland Roman Rutland long ago Anglo-Saxon Rutland Rutland's place-names waterborne transport around the sixth century Rutland's early churches Anglo-Saxon sculpture in Rutland The Matter of Rutland what the Normans did for Rutland Romanesque sculpture in Rutland Rutland in medieval times Rutland's scratch dials Rutland's medieval carvings Rutland's sepulchral effigies Rutland's saltways Rutland in Tudor times Dissolution in Rutland not that long ago Rutland in the 17th century pinfolds and pounds in Rutland dovecotes in Rutland Rutland in the 18th century turnpiking Rutland Rutland's springs and wells changes in Rutland's agriculture since 1800 seems like yesterday Rutland's dialect Rutland's folk customs travellers in Rutland watermills and windmills in Rutland breweries in Rutland gasworks in Rutland ironstone quarrying in Rutland Zeppelins over Rutland redundant telephone exchanges in Rutland Second World War in Rutland WWII airfields and pillboxes in Rutland the making of Rutland Water Rutland Weekend Television free online history resources Victoria County History: Rutland volume one Victoria County History: Rutland volume two free PDFs of Rutland Record issues 1 to 50 old OS maps Historic England Listed buildings database Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland Open Domesday English Place-Name Society database Wikipedia list of places in Rutland (with links to village entries) Wikipedia list of people from Rutland researching and writing local history getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around Rutland Belton-in-Rutland History Society Cottesmore History and Archaeology Group Langham Village History Group Lyddington Manor History Society Rutland Local History and Record Society Uppingham Local History Study Group you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Vale of Belvoir Chronicle Barrowby Until Now website Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland