Brent Knoll is a hill on the

Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south a ...

, in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. It is located roughly halfway between

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

and Bridgwater, from the Bristol Channel coast at

Burnham-on-Sea Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. ...

. At the foot of the hill are two villages

East Brent East Brent is a village and civil parish, on the eastern edge of a hill that dominates the surrounding level countryside—Brent Knoll—close to the M5 motorway, west of Axbridge, in the Sedgemoor district of the county of Somerset, in the sou ...

and

Brent Knoll 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 a ...

, 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 The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

, 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 Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

, although other suggestions have been put forward, such as from a word meaning ''burnt'' in

, suggesting that the settlement was at some time burnt by the Danes.

Sylvanus Urban Edward Cave (27 February 1691 – 10 January 1754) was an English printer, editor and publisher. He coined the term "magazine" for a periodical, founding ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' in 1731, and was the first publisher to successfully fashio ...

, ed., ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''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 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 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

Geology

An isolated hill, Brent Knoll is an example of

denudation Denudation is the geological processes in which moving water, ice, wind, and waves erode the Earth's surface, leading to a reduction in elevation and in relief of landforms and landscapes. Although the terms erosion and denudation are used interc ...

– waters of the Bristol Channel eroded surrounding features leaving just the

Blue Lias The Blue Lias is a geological formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassi ...

rocks from the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

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 The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

Brent Knoll Camp Brent Knoll Camp is an Iron Age hillfort at Brent Knoll, from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Monument, and is now in the care of the National Trust. The hill is high dominates the low surrounding l ...

is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

, with multiple ramparts ('' multivallate'') following the contours of the hill, broken only by the main entrance on the eastern side. Before the

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. According to legend, Ider son of Nuth, who was one of King Arthur's knights, came to the Mount of Frogs on a quest to slay three giants who lived there. The fort has been claimed as the site of Mons Badonicus.

References

{{Authority control Hills of Somerset Sedgemoor Somerset Levels

Toponymy

Geology

Travel

History

See also

References