Brent, South (St. Michael)
BRENT, SOUTH (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Axbridge, hundred of Brent with Wrington, E. division of Somerset, 6 miles (S. W. by S.) from Axbridge; containing 1074 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the Bristol and Exeter road, comprises by measurement 3533 acres, including 84 acres of road; the soil is very rich, and the surface flat, with the exception of a high hill called Brent Knoll, partly in the parish. There is a canal from Highbridge, distant about 2½ miles, to Glastonbury; and the Bristol and Exeter railroad intersects the parish. Fairs for sheep and horned-cattle are held on the second Monday in July, and second Monday in October. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £25. 17. 8½.; patron, the Archdeacon of Wells. The tithes have been commuted for £780, of which the vicar receives £689; the glebe consists of about half an acre, on which is the vicarage-house. In the church is a monument to the memory of Captain John Somersett, a zealous royalist in the time of the civil war. There is a place of worship for Bryanites.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.