Brooke is a village and civil parish in the county of

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

of England. It is situated about three miles (4.8 km) southwest of

Oakham Oakham is the county town of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, east of Leicester, south-east of Nottingham and west of Peterborough. It had a population of 10,922 in the 2011 census, estimated at 11,191 in 2019. Oakham is to the west o ...

. The village is near the source of the

River Gwash The River Gwash, occasionally Guash, a tributary of the River Welland, flows through the English counties of Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire. It rises just outside the village of Knossington in Leicestershire, near the western edge of ...

near

Braunston-in-Rutland Braunston-in-Rutland is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish was 392 at the 2001 census, including Brooke and increasing to 502 at the 2011 census. Leiceste ...

; the river forms part of the parish boundary. From the 2011 census the population is included in the

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 ...

The parish church is dedicated to St Peter. The church appeared in the 2005 film adaptation of '' Pride & Prejudice''. The small

Brooke Priory Brooke Priory was a minor house of Augustinian monks in Brooke, Rutland. It was a cell of St Mary's Abbey, Kenilworth. History It was founded by Hugh de Ferrers (lord of the manor of Oakham) before 1153. It was dedicated to St Mary the Virgi ...

was founded for Austin Canons, as a cell of

St Mary's Abbey, Kenilworth The remains of St Mary's Abbey, of Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England are situated in the grounds of St Nicholas' Church and in an adjacent area of Abbey Fields. Some of its ruins are above ground and some are below ground. History A priory ...

, apparently during the third quarter of the 12th century. No trace of the buildings survive, but there are earthworks and crop marks associated with fishpools or outbuildings. Some of these may date from the English Civil War or the formal gardens of the succeeding Brooke House, itself now gone. Some fragments of the original buildings are thought to have been used in the present 16th century house, called Brooke Priory. Dovecote - geograph

The land was sold in 1549 to Andrew Noel who built Brooke House, of which only the dovecote and octagon lodge now survives.

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

stayed at Brooke in August 1612 as a guest of Edward Noel. Brooke Priory School was founded here in 1989 but moved to Oakham in 1996. The Brooke Reliquary was discovered in 1805 in the cellar of Priory House. This small enamelled

casket A casket jewelry box is a container that is usually smaller than a chest, and in the past were typically decorated. Whereas cremation jewelry is a small container, usually in the shape of a pendant or bracelet, to hold a small amount of ashes. ...

dates from the 13th Century and originates from workshops in

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

, France. It is now on display at

Rutland County Museum Rutland County Museum is located in Oakham, Rutland, in the old Riding School of the Rutland Fencible Cavalry which was built in 1794–95. The museum, opened in 1969, houses a collection of objects relating to local rural and agricultural ...

References

External links

*
Brooke Church WebsiteBrooke Priory School
{{authority control Villages in Rutland Civil parishes in Rutland