Brook is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

borough of Ashford The Borough of Ashford is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. It borders five other Kent districts, as well as East Sussex to the south-west. Ashford Borough Council's main offices are in the town of Ashford. The bo ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, centred east-northeast of the town of Ashford.

Geography

Brook is in a gently rolling valley top immediately south of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...

. The brook referred to rises here and flows east to join the combined East and West Stour, that is, the River Great Stour. The south-east fifth of the parish is woodland. Brook has a small village museum. The human population of this area rose by 3 during the 10 years to the

United Kingdom Census 2011 A Census in the United Kingdom, census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Inter ...

History

The 11th century

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

parish church is dedicated to St Mary. There is also a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

chapel. The church of St. Mary, erected about 1075, is of stone, in the Early Norman style, and has a tower containing 3 bells: the tower was struck by lightning in 1896, and the northwest corner destroyed, but was restored in 1899: there are 160 sittings. John Betjeman described the church as "unaltered early Norman church ... a massive church which carries its longevity more convincingly than many older and tidier churches".Betjeman, J. (ed.) (1968) ''Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the South''. London: Collins; p. 247

References

External links

Brook Parish Council

Brook St Mary's church

{{authority control Villages in Kent Villages in the Borough of Ashford Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent