Early History
Some of the earliest living creatures in this area were the dinosaurs, one of which left a footprint in the fossilised pine raft at Hanover Point...
8,000BC onwards
What is now the coastline of Brook was once a river valley within a large land mass. The flint tools used...
When we reach the Bronze Age, between 2,500 and 700 B.C., we get a clearer picture of life in Brook.
After Britain was abandoned by the Roman Empire in AD 410, the Island was one of the first places to be visited by the Anglo-Saxons...
By the Iron Age, tribes from the Island had become involved in overseas trade with Britain and areas all over the Roman Empire.
The great Domesday Book was compiled by the Normans as a record of who owned what, so that King William could raise taxes.
The Mackerel family became lords of Brook some time towards the end of the 11th century. Again, varied accounts make this period difficult to unravel.
One convoluted aspect of Brook history is the Tithe Dispute. For over two hundred years, from the 13th to the 16th century, the rectors of Freshwater claimed that the tithes of Brook belonged to them...
The Bowermans were lords of Brook from 1450 to 1792, with the Rev. Thomas Bowerman, who had several daughters but no sons, remaining as Rector of Brook until 1833.
In 1792 William Bowerman sold Brook Manor to Henry Howe. Troops were stationed near here during the Napoleonic Wars – Hanover Point and Hanover House are believed to be named after a German regiment...
Around 1857 (the date is unclear), John and William Howe sold the estate to Charles Seely, MP for Lincoln, a wealthy mill and coalfield owner from Nottinghamshire.