Brent Knoll is a hill on the Somerset Levels, in Somerset, England. It is located roughly halfway between Weston-super-Mare and Bridgwater, from the Bristol Channel coast at Burnham-on-Sea. At the foot of the hill are two villages East Brent and Brent Knoll, which takes its name from the hill but was previously called South Brent. The hill's size and isolated position on the levels mean that it dominates the landscape and can be seen for many miles, and its prominence is emphasised to travellers because the Bristol to Taunton railway line, M5 motorway, A370 and A38 roads all pass within a mile or less from its base.
Toponymy
The word 'knoll' usually means a small hill or hill-top. The origin of the name Brent is unclear. The name may derive from the word "brant" meaning "steep" in
Old English,
[ Surname Database:Brentnall]
although other suggestions have been put forward,
[ Brent Knoll Village website: A Brief History]
such as from a word meaning
burnt in
Old English, suggesting that the settlement was at some time burnt by the
Danes.
[Sylvanus Urban, ed., The Gentleman's Magazine (1846), p. 359: "The derivation from burning is not so extravagant, for such, we believe, is the authentic etymology of Brentwood, in Essex".]
Another proposal is that the name comes from a
Celtic languages term meaning "high place".
The modern Cornish word for "hill" being "Bre". Another possibility is that the name of Brent simply derives from the local river, the Brent, which gives its name to a Somerset hundred.
[Benjamin Clarke, The British gazetteer, political, commercial, ecclesiastical (1852), p. 405: "The name is evidently derived from its being situated on the banks of the river Brent..."]
Geology
An isolated hill, Brent Knoll is an example of denudation – waters of the Bristol Channel eroded surrounding features leaving just the Blue Lias rocks from the Jurassic period capped with Midford Sands of the Bridport Formation.
Travel
Brent Knoll used to have a railway station but it closed in 1971.
History
Brent Knoll has seen human settlement since at least the Bronze Age. Brent Knoll Camp is an Iron Age hill fort, with multiple ramparts ( multivallate) following the contours of the hill, broken only by the main entrance on the eastern side.
Before the Somerset Levels were drained, Brent Knoll was an island, known as the Isle (or Mount) of Frogs (Mons Ranarum), that provided a safe haven from the water and marshes.
See also
