| Rising to a height of 1,100 ft (335m) Brentor with its
church is a prominent landmark over west Devon. The rock itself is the
remains of a mass of lava deposited on the seabed of a shallow sea which
covered this area some 300 million years ago. The softer rocks formed
from sand and mud around this lava flow has eroded leaving Brentor standing
proud above the landscape and visible for miles around. From its summit
you can see one of the finest views in Devon, overlooking Dartmoor, Exmoor
and Plymouth Sound in Devon, together with Bodmin Moor, Kit Hill and much
of east Cornwall. The name may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘brene’
meaning to burn (perhaps relating to beacons being lit on its summit)
or the Celtic ‘bryn’, meaning hill or mount. The church on the summit
is the church of St Michael de la Rupe (of the rock) was built around
1130 by Robert Giffard, the lord of the manor of Lamerton and Whitchurch.
The church was re-built at the end of the 13th century and the tower added
in the 1400s. For more pictures of Brentor click here! |
