Brook, Heywood
Brook in the parish of Heywood, near Westbury in Wiltshire, England, is an historic estate. It was the seat of Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke, KG, an important supporter of King Henry VII, whose title unusually incorporates the name of his seat, in order to differentiate him from his ancestors Barons Willoughby of Eresby, seated at Eresby Manor near Spilsby in Lincolnshire. A medieval wing survives of the mansion house known as Brook Hall, a Grade I listed building situated near the Biss Brook.
Descent
Paveley
The earliest recorded holder is the Paveley family, which held it in the reign of King Henry I. Rogers gives the descent of Brook as follows:- Reginald de Paveley, lord of the manor of Westbury
- Walter I de Paveley
- Walter II lord of the manor of Westbury in 1255.
- Reginald de Paveley
- Walter de Paveley, of Hilperton, Wiltshire, Sheriff of Wiltshire, 1297. He married Alice _____.
- Reginald de Paveley, Knt., of Westbury and Brook, Wiltshire, Sheriff of Wiltshire, 1335–6, younger son. He married by license dated 22 June 1333 Alice Wallis, widow of John de Saint John, Knt., 1st Lord Saint John of Lageham. His relative appears to have been Sir Walter Paveley Knight of the Garter, of Kent, a Knight Founder of the Order of the Garter and the son of Sir Walter Paveley of Kent, by his wife and Maud Burghersh, daughter and heiress of Sir Stephen Burghersh, the elder son of Robert Burghersh.
- John de Paveley, who married Agnes de la Mare, but died without male progeny. His two daughters and co-heiresses were as follows:
- *Joan de Paveley, heiress of Brook, who married Sir Ralph Cheyne ;
- *Alice de Paveley, who married Sir John St Loe, MP. St Loe survived his wife and on 20 Nov 1368, a of the profits of the fair of Westbury was delivered to him to hold by Courtesy of England. He died without male progeny leaving several daughters as co-heiresses, between whom and the Cheneys there were arguments concerning the distribution of the Paveley estates. Cheyne had married Joan Paveley in 1368, after the Paveley estates had been divided between Joan and her sister Alice, and he deemed Joan's share to have been inadequate. He thus obtained the making of a second partition which was more favourable to his wife and by which he gained moieties of the hundred of Westbury and the manor of Brooke, a half-share of the profits of the view of frankpledge and the market and fair at Westbury, the hamlets of Ditteridge and Hawkeridge and £6 of yearly rent from the manor of Westbury.
Cheney
Sir Ralph Cheyne (c.1337-1400)
Sir Ralph Cheyne, thrice a Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and was Deputy Justiciar of Ireland in 1373 and Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1383-4. He was Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. His monumental chantry chapel survives in Edington Priory Church in Wiltshire. He was the 2nd son and eventual heir of Sir William Cheyne of Poyntington in Somerset by his 2nd wife Joan Gorges, a daughter of Ralph Gorges, 1st Lord Gorges of Dundalk in the peerage of Ireland, of Bradpole in Dorset. Sir Ralph Cheyne inherited the estates of his childless elder half brother Sir Edmund Cheyne, Warden of the Channel Islands. Sir Ralph Cheyne married Joan Pavely, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Pavely, of Brook, Wiltshire.Sir William Cheyne (c.1374-1420)
Sir William Cheyne, only son and heir, MP for Dorset in 1402. He married Cecily Stretch, younger daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Stretch, of Pinhoe and Hempston Arundel in Devon, Sheriff of Devon, 1379–80, Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset, 1383–4, Knight of the Shire for Devon, 1385, 1386, 1388, by his 1st wife, Maud, daughter and heiress of John Multon, Knt. Cecily was the widow of Thomas Bonville, third son of Sir William Bonville of Shute in Devon. Sir William Cheyne's younger son was John Cheyne, who was given by his mother the manor of Pinhoe, where he established his own family, having married Elizabeth Hill, daughter of John Hill of Spaxton.Sir Edmund Cheyne (d.1430)
Sir Edmund Cheyne, eldest son and heir, of Brook, MP for Wiltshire in 1429. He married Alice Stafford, widow of William Boteler, de jure 6th Baron Sudeley, of Sudeley in Gloucestershire, and daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford II of Hooke, "With the Silver Hand," of Hooke, Dorset and of Southwick, Wiltshire, by his wife Elizabeth Mautravers, daughter of Sir John Mautravers of Hooke. Alice Stafford was the aunt of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Earl of Devon. Alice survived her second husband and married Walter Tailboys, of Newton-Kyme, Yorkshire, by whom she had a daughter Eleanor, wife of Thomas Strangeways, of Melbury, Dorset, ancestor to the Earls of Ilchester. Sir Edmund Cheyne's landholdings included: Brook, Avon, Ditteridge, and Imber, Wiltshire, Cheyneys and French Ladys, Cambridgeshire, Birch, Fair Oak, Rawridge, and Upottery, Devon, Cheyney-Cottered, Hertfordshire, Poyntington and Norton Hawkfield, Somerset, etc. Sir Edmund Cheyne died without male progeny, leaving two daughters and co-heiresses:- Elizabeth Cheney, eldest daughter, wife of Sir John Coleshill, of Duloe, Cornwall, MP for Cornwall in 1453–1454 and Sheriff of Cornwall in 1466/7.
- Anne Cheney, younger daughter and heiress of Brook, who married Sir John Willoughby, who was knighted at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Her son was Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke, the eventual heir of Brooke.
Willoughby
- Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke was created the first Baron Willoughby de Broke. He rebuilt Brook Hall and installed many heraldic stained glass windows, which were recorded and described in 1650 by John Aubrey on his visit to Brook. A common image in these windows was the heraldic badge of a rudder, which was noted earlier by John Leland when he visited Brook. Sir Ralph Cheney's heraldic badge was a rudder, as is visible sculpted on his monument in Edington Priory Church, but had apparently first been adopted by his ancestors the Paveley family of Brook. Aubrey stated concerning his visit to Brook Hall: "Mr Wadman would persuade me that this rudder belonged to the Paveleys who had this place here". Use of the Rudder badge descended to Cheney and then to Willoughby. William Camden stated of Cheney's descendant: "Lord Willoughby, by report Admiral, used the helme of a ship for the seal to his ring". A small rudder is sculpted on the alabaster monument and effigy of Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke in Callington Church in Cornwall. Two relief sculptures of rudders survive today in Edington Church, and Aubrey noted in a chapel south of the chancel in Westbury Church "in one window some rudders of ships or". They were also formerly visible in the church of "Seend".
Verney
20th century
In 1968, three related buildings were recorded on the National Heritage List for England. The Early Wing, from the 15th century, was designated as Grade I while the adjoining farmhouse and a barn are Grade II.For 20 years the Early Wing was listed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register. Following many years with shoring scaffolding for structural support following local authority statutory powers enforcement, following a change of ownership in 2014 the hall was subject to repairs in 2017/18 and was described as a success story for the register.
Descriptions
Description by John Leland (1503-1552)
Brook House is described by the antiquarian John Leland, which text was commented on in an article called "Leland's Journey through Wiltshire" published in the Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, 1883. Part of the old House of the Paveleys was visible when Leland visited. His description is as follows:Description by Aubrey (1626–1697)
The Antiquarian John Aubrey visited Brook Hall and in his 1650 work on South Wiltshire wrote describing it as "a very great and stately old howse" with "a hall which is great and open, with very olde windowes". There was a "canopie chamber", a dining room, parlour and chapel, and the windows were filled with coats shewing the armorial descent of Willoughby, which he described. The windows "are most of them semée with rudder of a ship, or. He observes "the Rudder everywhere". This was the heraldic badge of Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke, apparently inherited from Cheney, as it is shown also on the monument to Sir Ralph Cheyne of Brook, in Edington Priory Church. Aubrey wrote as follows, describing the coats of arms then visible in the stained glass windows of the Great Hall and the "Canopie Chamber":Windows of ''Canopie Chamber''
- Sir Stafford: Or, a chevron gules, and bordure engrailed sable, impaling for Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of Adam Greyvill, six lioncells rampant sable, 3, 2, 1. Field not coloured
- Stafford, quartering Greyvill; impaling: Sable, a fret or, for Elizabeth daughter and heir of John Maltravers.
- Sir John Maltravers, as before, impaling, for Elizabeth daughter and heir of Cifrewast, Azure, 2 bars gemelles argent.
- Sir John Maltravers quartering Cifrewast, both as before, Impaling, for Elizabeth daughter of Sir William Aumarle or Almerle, Per fess Gules and Azure, 3 crescents argent.
- Sir Edmund Cheyne, G, on 4 lozenges in fess a, 4 escallops S, impaling Stafford quartering 1. Greyvill. 2. Maltravers. 3. Cifrewast: all as before.
- Sir John Willoughby, S, a cross engrailed or; quartering, G, a cross moline a with a crescent at fess point; Impaling, Cheyney quartering 1. Stafford 2. Greyvill. 3. Maltravers. 4. Cifrewast. 5. Aumarle : all as before".
- Robert Willoughby : of 10 coats. 1. Willoughby and Beke quarterly. 2. Cheney. 3. Stafford. 4. Greyvill. 5. Maltravers. 6. Cifrewast. 7. Aumarle. 8. As 1 : all as before. The windows are most of them semee with a Rudder of a Ship.
- Willoughby Lord Brooke, tempore Edwardi III, gave the rudder of a ship or, for his cognizance. Mem: in Hen. 7th's time Lord Willoughby of Broke was Admirall. Mr. Wadman would persuade me that this Rudder belonged to Paveley who had this place here.
Windows of Dining Room
- Willoughby quartering Beke, a crescent for difference; 2. Latimer. 3. Cheney. 4. Stafford. All as before.
- France and England. King's Arms.
- Do, within a bordure gobone A and Az,.
- France and England quarterly, impaling, 1. Quarterly, 1. Courtenay. 2 and 3. G. three fishes Or. 4. France 2 and 3. Mortimer. 4. O, a cross g.
- John, Lord Neville, impaling, G, a cross patonce o, for Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William, Lord Latimer.
- Sir Willoughby, quartering Beke: Impaling, Neville, for Elizabeth, daughter and coheir to Elizabeth Neville aforesaid.
- Sir John Willoughby and Beke quarterly : quartering Latimer, impaling, for Johanna daughter and heir to Welby, S, 3 fleurs de lys A.
- Willoughby, Beke, and Latimer; impaling Cheney: all as before.
Windows of the Parlour
- The Sun in full glory with an eye in tears, a crest of Blount.
Windows of Chapel
Description by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bt. (1758–1838)