Place:East Brent, Somerset, England

Watchers
NameEast Brent
Alt namesEdingworthsource: hamlet in parish
Rooks Bridgesource: hamlet in parish
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates51.264°N 2.936°W
Located inSomerset, England
See alsoBrent with Wrington Hundred, Somerset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Axbridge Rural, Somerset, Englandrural district 1894-1974
Sedgemoor District, Somerset, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

East Brent (#20 on map) is a village and civil parish, located on the eastern edge of a hill named Brent Knoll that dominates the surrounding level countryside. It is close to the M5 motorway, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Axbridge, in the Sedgemoor District of the county of Somerset, in the southwest of England. The parish includes the hamlets of Rooks Bridge and Edingworth. In the 2011 UK census the parish had a population of 1,302.

East Brent was part of the ancient hundred of Brent with Wrington (sometimes Brent cum Wrington) and, from 1894 until 1974, the Axbridge Rural District.

The manor formed part of the great Saxon estate of Brent given by King Ine of the West Saxons to Glastonbury Abbey in AD693 and held by the monks of the abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. It was then granted to the Duke of Somerset and subsequently passed to the Whitmores and then the Pophams, who lived in the Grade II listed Beaconsfield House until it was sold in 2015.

Image:Axbridge Rural 1900 3.png

Research Tips

  • The Somerset Heritage Centre (incorporating what was formerly the Somerset Record Office and the Somerset Local Studies Library) can be found at its new location at Langford Mead in Taunton. It has an online search facility leading to pages of interest, including maps from the First and Second Ordnance Survey (select "Maps and Postcards" from the list at the left, then enter the parish in the search box).
    The Heritage Centre has an email address: archives@somerset.gov.uk.
  • Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected.
  • Somerset Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
  • Somerset in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
  • Somerset in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at East Brent, Somerset. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.