"There was of very aunciente tyme an olde maner place wher _Brooke Hall_ is now, and parte of it yet appearithe, but the buyldynge that is there is of the erectynge of the Lorde Stewarde unto Kynge Henry the vii. The wyndowes be full of rudders. Peradventure it was his badge or token of the Amiraltye. There is a fayre Parke, but no great large thynge. In it be a great nombar of very fair and fyne greyned okes apt to sele howses. "The broke that renithe by _Brooke_ is properly caulyd _Bisse_, and risethe at a place namyd _Bismouth_, a two myles above _Brooke_ village, an hamlet longynge to _Westbyry_ paroche. Thens it cummithe onto _Brooke_ village, and so a myle lower onto _Brooke Haule_, levinge it hard on the right ripe, and about a two miles lower it goith to _Trougbridge_, and then into _Avon_." We enter the court yard, and the main portion remaining, which was probably erected by the Lord Steward, occupies the whole of the left side. It is a strong substantial building. The front toward the yard has three doorways having good late-pointed arches, and five two-light windows of small dimensions. Between the doorways are buttresses. At first sight, the building seems as if intended for a large hall, especially from the fine high-pitched roof, and its completeness inside, having all the old timbers remaining. But it appears to have been divided off, and formed into apartments, a considerable portion of the old wood partition-work still remains. It is now used as a stable, barn, and for other farm purposes. The upper end of this long building is joined to a cross portion, apparently the better part of the fabric, but not of large dimensions. This has been modernized to the requirements of a farm-house, and almost all its antient features obliterated. The walls are of great thickness, nearly six feet, and at the end are some later transomed Elizabethan windows, bricked up, and in a small outhouse below is "T.--1684;" a still later time-mark.