St Mary, Brook

St Mary’s is a Grade I parish church on The Street, Brook, near Ashford, Kent, in the Diocese of Canterbury. Historic England and local histories describe it as an unusually complete late-eleventh-century church, long associated with Christ Church, Canterbury.

Overview

The listing dates the fabric to 1096–1107 for Prior Ernulf of Christ Church, Canterbury. Walls are flint, in parts laid herringbone, with Quarr and Caen stone dressings and a plain tiled roof. The plan is chancel, nave with nineteenth-century north porch, and a massive three-stage Westwerk tower whose ground area is virtually as great as the nave, with a south-east stair turret. A fifteenth-century two-light west window sits in an eleventh-century outer arch. The south doorway is a blocked eleventh-century opening.

Inside, a tall rebated tower arch has rope-moulded abaci. A complete spiral stair leads to a first-floor chapel with three finely moulded arches on the east wall and twelfth-century painting of Christ blessing. The low chancel arch stands on imposts. Twelfth- and thirteenth-century wall paintings survive in nave and chancel, with medieval encaustic tiles. Brook Parish Council notes a Domesday church and attributes the tower to Ernulf about 1097. The building remains an active parish church in the Wye Benefice.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1232974
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Mary, Brook
• Brook Parish Council: Brook Church