Brook, St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church, Brook

Arguably the best-preserved Victorian church on the Isle of Wight, St Mary's Church, Brook was built in 1864 to replace an earlier medieval building. Highlights include superb 19th-century stained glass and links to the Brook RNLI lifeboat.

History

Brook's original 13th-century church burned down in 1862, leaving only the base of the tower and the tower arch. A new church was built on the same site, incorporating what remained of the earlier building.

The present church was financed by Charles Seely, an exceptionally wealthy industrialist and the MP for Lincoln. Seely owned a vast estate that included Brook village and church.

The Caen stone pulpit

The new church was designed in 13th-century Early English style, recreating the look of the medieval building if not its proportions. Seely spared no expense, and the church interior was furnished using the finest materials and craftsmanship. The 19th-century interiors have remained essentially untouched, making St Mary's one of the best examples of a small Victorian church in Britain.

The only addition to the church exterior came in 1889 when the tower was heightened 14 feet with the addition of a third stage and a small spire.

Medieval lion carving

Highlights

It is hard to pick one highlight, since the church interior functions as a beautifully-crafted whole. The striking trefoil font is made from Sicilian marble and the ornate pulpit of Caen stone. There is a double sedilia on each side of the high altar and candelabra hung from the nave and chancel ceilings.

One unusual feature for a Victorian church is that the walls have remained unfinished, with only rough stone surfaces. The interior layout consists of a nave and chancel without an arch between them, a north chapel, and a south-west tower by which you enter the building.

The medieval tower arch

There is one unusual reminder of the medieval church in the form of a very worn carved figure preserved on a window ledge. This appears to be the figure of a seated or crouching lion. We don't know when the lion was carved but it may be original to the 13th-century church.

Set into the west wall is a 14th-century window.

RNLI Lifeboat Plaques

What makes Brook's parish church memorable, aside from the beautiful Victorian furnishings, is its connection to the Brook RNLI lifeboat, as evidenced by a series of memorial plaques commemorating acts of heroism by the lifeboat crew.

Among these plaques is one erected in memory of Reuben Cooper, second coxswain, who was lost overboard in 1888 whilst rowing to the rescue of the SV Sirenia, which struck the Atherfield Ledge in a thick fog.

Brook lifeboat commemoration plaque

Another plaque was erected on the orders of Queen Victoria to commemorate the crews of lifeboats from Atherfield, Brighstone, and Brook for their efforts to save the crew and passengers of the SS Eider in 1892.

One touching plaque records a letter of thanks from the captain of the SS Triton, a steam dredger from Rotterdam, whose crew was rescued by the Brook lifeboat in 1904.

Another plaque records 258 lives saved by the Brook lifeboat from the period 1871 to 1932, responding to 16 vessels in distress over that time.

In the churchyard is a memorial to those who died in the 1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash, when 45 lives were lost. At the time, it was the worst aircraft disaster on English soil.

The marble trefoil font

Visiting

The church stands well north of the village centre, on a tree-shrouded hill overlooking the houses below. Simple follow Brook Lane north until it merges with the B3399 and you will find the church to your right.

As far as we can determine, the church is open to visitors daily. It was open when we visited. There is a dedicated church car park, accessed via a narrow drive immediately south of the churchyard on the B3399.