"Brook was a small estate. At the time of the Domesday (1086) it consisted of about 350 acres. There were 7 acres of meadow, a church, mill and a small wood. In the Medieval period it was owned by the great Cathedral Church of Christ Church in Canterbury. ..... The farmyard beside the road includes a barn of 1370 which stands to the east of the yard. The Court Lodge of 1430 and later buildings occupy a roughly rectangular site beside the road. At the east corner is an empty moated area which is recorded as having been set up in 1289. It was the former centre of the farm, with hall, chapel, kitchen, barns, granary and garden for much of which there are accounts (held in the cathedral archives) for the years 1289- 1294. A mill, wine store and dovecote are also recorded.
In the 14th century the monks changed their policy of organising farming on their estates themselves with their own bailiffs to an earlier policy of letting the farms out to tenants. The barn was probably built by the monks own team of carpenters, tilers and other craftsmen to provide a new, substantial and well built barn for the new tenant. Court Lodge was built to provide a substantial home for the tenant and for use of the manor court."
