 |
My Visit to St. Mary's Church in Brook
|
|
|
My Visit to St. Mary's Church in Brook
|
Exterior Views of St. Mary's Church
(Text in italics is quoted directly
from a 4-page pamphlet purchased at the church.) |
||
| Church Exterior | Church Interior | Tower |
| Views from Church | Views of Brook | After Lunch |
 |
St. Mary’s Church in Brook is just a few steps from the main road on the south end of town. This page is a brief history of the church. The prominent Norman tower dominates the view from the road. The church building is clearly early Norman, with no traces of anything Saxon. The tower is massive and stands as a landmark for miles, so it is easy for people to jump to wrong conclusions, e.g. that the tower was fortified. It can be stated categorically that it has never been fortified. Other people have assumed that it was originally a look-out tower. If this had been required, it surely would have been erected on Spelders Hill, one hundred feet above us, and not down here on the low ground. Why then was this tower built so large? The church might well be called Continental Norman in style and was planned in Carolingian fashion with a first floor (second floor in U.S. terminology) containing a priest’s chamber. In it are two arched windows looking east so that whoever is up there can watch the progress of the worship. In architectural terms, this wide tower is called a “Westwerk” in the manner of several churches on the Continent of Europe. |
|
The Church looks like it has been added on to once and possibly two separate times, but actually it is all the original building according to the church notes. This view is of the south side of the church. The altar is located in the east end of the building at the far right in this view. The church may have been built between A.D. 1096 and 1107 when the vigorous Ernulf was Prior of Christ Church Monastery. The main construction remains unaltered. The walls are of unknapped flints and of Qwarr stone (from the Isle of Wight). We are glad that unsightly plaster was removed from the outer walls in 1961. Recent repairs and repointing were carried out in 1965. There were more than twenty small Norman Windows – placed high up. The three at the east end of the chancel were soon replaced by Early English lancets, as you perceive. The south doorway (to the left of where my husband is standing) has been blocked. |
 |
 |
The cemetery surrounds the church on all four sides in a slightly haphazard fashion. Family plots are not clearly delineated although graves are sometimes grouped by surnames. The earliest tombstone I found was from 1802 or 1803, and there were no Edgerton family names on any of the markers. I also noticed pieces of broken tombstones that had been discarded in the hedges surrounding the church property. |
 |
The original entrance for the church was probably this door on the west side, visible from the road. Outside, on the tympanum of the west door, we can discern how small Norman panels from a frieze have been re-used. Their pattern is pellet and diamond, similar to that on the arch in the priest’s chamber. In the tower vestry, a small Norman window (above the west door) was replaced in the fifteenth century by one of the Perpendicular style. |
 |
 |
The current entrance is the north side door to the east of the tower, shown in this picture. The north door…has clearly been lowered. We can see marks on the outside of the former roof, which had been built higher. |
| Church Exterior | Church Interior | Tower |
| Views from Church | Views of Brook | After Lunch |
Home Richard Edgerton Church History History of Altars in England St. Mary's Altar
© 2003-2008 · Wind and Roses, LLC · Laramie, Wyoming · Last updated February 09, 2008