The Brooks and Orchard Families

The Brooks and Orchard Families

If ever there were 'typical' Sutton Benger families of the 17th to the early 20th centuries, then they were the Brooks and Orchard families. Before the Second World War the majority of people in Sutton Benger and Draycot Cerne came from the lower strata of society: agricultural labourers, husbandmen and yeomen, with some artisans and craftsmen. And within these groupings, husbands and wives invariably came not only from the same social levels but from within a very restricted geographical range. For those villagers who chose not to migrate to towns and cities, and remained in the parish, the limits for finding a bride or a groom were set by the distance they were prepared to walk in their limited free time. Men were generally in their late twenties before they married, because of the costs of setting up homes; but when they married, couples tended to have large families. A related trend across all social strata in England during this period was also the high percentage of both men and women who never married; often, these bachelors and spinsters continued to live with their parents, or with their siblings. Daughters became ‘housekeepers’ for widowed fathers, while sons became ‘heads of family’ for widowed mothers. The Brooks and Orchard families show evidence of all these social stereotypes across several generations, up to the mid 1900s. Perhaps typically for agricultural labourers, no member of either of the families ever served on the Manor Court as a Juror, nor were they ever referenced in the Court Rolls for any reason. Their story, however, can be found from a detailed examination of the Censuses and Parish Registers.

The Brooks Family

Charles Brooks (1796-1871)

The 'Brooks' story begins in the 1800s in Corston; Charles Brooks married Fanny Bishop from Yatton Keynell, and after a few years they settled in Sutton Benger with their three sons and three daughters. Charles was a stonemason, but none of his sons followed him into that trade, possibly because there was already an established family mason business in the village: brothers Thomas and Levi Langley with Thomas’ sons David and Charles. The Brooks family initially lived in a small house on the south side of the High Street, identified as No 33 on the 1839 map; but by 1851 they had moved and were almost certainly living on the north side of the High Street at No 63; this is the building now known as Bell Hatch. In 1851 and 1861 the family’s neighbour was John Brinkworth, a shoemaker.

To be continued...

If you are eager to hear the full story of the Brooks and Orchard families, or if you are able to add more to the story - such as photos of any of the family - please do contact us at:

hello@bengertrails.co.uk