Brooke is a village and civil parish in the county of

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

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

Oakham Oakham is a market town and civil parish in Rutland (of which it is the county town) in the East Midlands of England. The town is located east of Leicester, southeast of Nottingham and northwest of Peterborough. It had a population of 12,14 ...

. The village is near the source of the

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

near Braunston-in-Rutland; 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Braunston-in-Rutland. 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 Vir ...

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 The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

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 King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

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 dates from the 13th Century and originates from workshops in

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , 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. Situated o ...

, France. It is now on display at Rutland County Museum.

References

External links

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