Most of the settlements on the Levels are small villages. In the southern area the civil parish of Aller, which has a population of 374,[14] includes the hamlet of Beer (sometimes Bere) and the deserted medieval village of Oath on the opposite bank of the River Parrett. The area known as the Isle of Athelney was once a very low isolated island linked by a causeway to East Lyng, each end of which was protected by a semi-circular stockade and ditch. The ditch on the island is now known to date from the Iron Age, and was used by Alfred the Great as a fort before the Battle of Ethandun in May 878; in gratitude for his victory Alfred founded a monastery, Athelney Abbey,[7] on the Isle in 888, which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in 1539. Bawdrip is a small village which has a population of 498.[15] Brent Knoll is a large village at the foot of a 137-metre (449 ft) hill that dominates the surrounding landscape; the name means Beacon Hill in Old English.[16] Brent Knoll has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age.[17] Before the Somerset Levels were drained, Brent Knoll was an island known as the Isle (or Mount) of Frogs.[
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
