Brook   Contents

Kelly's Directory 1886 - Brook

"Brook is a parish in the liberty and rural deanery of West Medina, archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight, and diocese of Winchester, situated about 10 miles south-west-by-west from Newport and 5 south-east from Yarmouth, on the southern coast of the island. The church of St. Mary was destroyed by fire in 1863: the new church is a Gothic stone edifice and consists of chancel, nave, two north transepts and tower containing one bell: the windows are stained, the east window representing the Crucifixion: the pulpit and font are of marble. The register dates from the year 1653. The living is a rectory, yearly value £250, in the gift of and held since 1859 by the Rev. John Pellow Gaze M.A. of Trinity College, Oxford. Charles Seely esq. M.P., D.I., J.P. of brook House, is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is sandy; subsoil, loamy. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and peas. The area is 713 acres of arable, pasture and down land and 40 of foreshore; rateable value, £1,164; the population in 1881 was 195." (From Kelly's Directory of the Isle of Wight, 1886)