THE MANOR OF BROOK

The collection relates to the Manor of Brook and in particular to the Bowreman family who were Lords of the Manor from the fifteenth to the late eighteenth century. Before the sale of the archive, the documents were in the hands of the great-grand-daughter of the last male descendant of the Bowreman family - Rev Thomas Bowreman (buried at Brook in 1844)

During the twelth century, the manor was held of Carisbrook Castle by the Mackerel family. William Makerel granted the tithes of his mill of Brook and common pasture to the monks of Quarr Abbey before 1189. By the end of the thirteenth century, the manor of Brook had passed to the Glamorgan family. Nicholas Glamorgan died without issue in 1362 and the property was then divided among his sisters. Isabella, the eldest daughter, leased Brook to Geoffrey de Roucle, and twenty years later Geoffrey purchased all the rights to Brook which Isabella's nephew, John de Veer, had inherited. Roucle died in 1390 and his son John subsequently gave the manor to Thomas Bowreman (and two others who released their claim to Bowreman). The manor remained in the Bowreman family until 1792, when it was sold to Henry Howe. Between 1856 and 1876 Charles Seely purchased the Brook estate

Although the substantial part of the collection is concerned with the Bowremans, there are documents which relate to earlier individuals connected with the manor. For example, there is a thirteenth century feoffment in which Sir Ralph Makerel (brother and successor of William Makerel) grants land in Brook to Richard Taylor, in return for two shillings per annum. One of the fourteenth century documents is a life grant of the manor by John de Glamorgan to his daughter Isabella and her husband, Godfrey de Hunstan. Isabella subsequently leased Brook to Geoffrey Roucle, and he appears as one of the parties in several deeds of gifts, the earliest being dated 1 February 1386

The material relating to the Bowremans includes deeds of gifts and leases, as well as papers concerning their genealogy. There are extracts from parish registers, notes recording names of family members with their respective dates of baptism, marriage and burial, and narrative account of the descent of the manor. A dispute concerning the church of Brook which occupied the Bowremans forms the subject of a number of seventeenth century documents - there are schedules of evidence discussing the status of the church and whether it fell within the parish of Freshwater

Of particular interest (although small in number) are the documents which relate to Quarr Abbey - a notable medieval land-owning institution. These include a letter of attorney (3 March 1399) addressed to John Garston, and a release (9 December 1500) granted to Joanna Bowreman

The collection also has some out-county references, notably to Somerset: for example a fourteenth century deed of gift relating to land in Keinton Mandeville