What's On - Brook Rural Museum News and Events

The following is adapted from Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh’s blogpost https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/kenthistory/kent-hop-picking-and-dovers-maison-dieu/ The ‘Local Stories: Memories of Hopping around Brook and Wye, Kent’ exhibition at the Templeman Library, University of Kent, was officially opened Friday 18th October. It is worth pointing out that even though today very few hop fields survive in Kent, John Hills as part of CCCU’s Sustainability team regularly […]

Brook Rural Museum has partnered with the University of Kent Special Collections & Archives to bring you this new exhibition, showcasing memories and stories about the hop industry around Wye in the 20th century, collected from oral history interviews with local people. Supported by Association of Independent Museums grant funded by The National Lottery Heritage […]

The below is a summary of Dr John Bulaitis’ talk ‘The Tithe War in England and Wales 1881-1936’, given at the Michael Nightingale lecture on 24 September 2024, and is adapted from Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh’s post on the Centre for Kent History and Heritage blog: https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/kenthistory/the-tithe-war-kent-and-england/ John Bulaitis began his talk by thanking the many […]

Already September and just one more month left of our summer season! To end the season in style we have teamed up with our local pub & café the Honest Miller to offer 1 FREE hot drink to every group that visits us (T&C’s apply*). Just ask the friendly volunteers on the door for your […]

We are recruiting for a part-time Conservation and Collections Officer Overview: Salary: £25,000 per annum pro rata (£10,200) Hours: 14 hours per week (0.4 FTE) 12 month contract Location: Brook Rural Museum, Brook, Ashford, TN25 5PE and opportunity for home working Reporting to: Community Engagement Manager Key relationships: Trustees, Volunteers Annual leave: 20 days (pro […]

Are you interested in local history, meeting new people or a career in the arts & heritage sector? We are looking for new volunteers to join our Front of House team! Duties include welcoming visitors to our historic barn and oast house and guiding them round the historic artefacts. Availability required on one or two […]

Brook Rural Museum is pleased to announce that it has been awarded an £88,294 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to undertake an 18-month project ’Brook Rural Museum – Reaching out into our communities’. John Nightingale, Chair of the Wye Rural Museum Trust expressed his gratitude, saying, “This is an exciting time for the […]

Brook Rural Museum awarded £13,843 from the Association of Independent Museums’ (AIM) ‘New Stories New Audiences’ Grant!! From January 2024, Brook Rural Museum will be working in partnership with the University of Kent Special Collections and Archives Team to deliver the AIM Oral History Project ‘Local Stories: Memories of Hopping around Brook and Wye, Kent’, […]

Brook Rural Museum hosted its first Christmas Craft Workshop on Saturday 2 December.   Carol, the Wheat Weaver (@thewheatweaver) helped participants create their own festive wheat decorations to take home. All had a brilliant time and were keen to take part in future workshops! We hope this is the first of many craft workshops at […]

Brook Rural Museum was delighted to join Christ Church University in jointly hosting Dr Adam Chapman who delivered the annual Michael Nightingale Memorial lecture at Christ Church on 26 September. Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh who is both a trustee of the museum and co-director of Christ Church’s Centre for Kent History and Heritage provided the following account […]