Photo © Derek Harper, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
South Brent
South Brent is a large village on the southern edge of Dartmoor, in the valley of the River Avon, about five miles north east of Ivybridge. The parish had 2,929 people at the 2021 census. It appears in Domesday (1086) as Brenta, and the name is thought to come from the Old English brant, meaning steep. The manor belonged to Buckfast Abbey until the Dissolution and then passed to Sir William Petre. Bronze Age remains lie on the moorland above the village.
The village was a woollen and market centre. A gazetteer entry of 1894-5 records large fairs on the last Tuesday of April and September and cattle markets in February, August and November. St Petroc's church has a massive Norman tower and a red sandstone font of the late 12th century. In 1436 the vicar, John Hay, was dragged out of the church and murdered during a service. Brent station opened on 15 June 1848 on the South Devon Railway and closed in 1964.
Brent Hill rises to 1,020 feet beside the village. A chapel of St Michael on the summit was licensed in 1374 by Bishop Brantyngham for the monks of Buckfast, and is said to have been destroyed by lightning in 1777. A windmill was built there about 1790. A 1935 newspaper claimed an Ashburton surgeon, Nicholas Tripe, had it built, but Legendary Dartmoor says several authors now discount that. The hill also holds an Early Iron Age hillfort and in 1887 a beacon was lit on it for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
South Brent on the map
In South Brent
Brent Birders
South Brent
Brent Birders are a group of wildlife enthusiasts living in and around South Brent, who are interested in recording and encouraging an interest in local birds and other wildlife.
Brent Moor House
South Brent
The site of a demolished Victorian mansion beside the River Avon, once a 17th-century farmstead, a hunt master's lodge and a youth hostel; blown up in 1968.
Gisperdown Cross (cross head in a farm wall)
South Brent
A re-set cross head with one arm missing, built into the wall at the entrance to Gisperdown Farm near South Brent.
Huntingdon Cross (Huntingdon Warren)
South Brent
A medieval wayside cross by the River Avon at Huntingdon Warren, one of four crosses ordered up for the Brent Moor bounds in 1557.
Moor Trees
South Brent
Moor Trees restores native broadleaf woodland on Dartmoor by growing trees from locally collected seeds and engaging volunteers in habitat creation.
Petre's Cross
South Brent
A wayside cross set upside down on Western White Barrow, one of four crosses raised by Sir William Petre to mark the Forest bounds in the 16th century.
South Brent Community Website
South Brent
A local resource signposting South Brent's organisations, community contacts and village amenities, helping people connect with life on Dartmoor's southern edge.
South Brent Parish Council
South Brent
The parish council for South Brent, a market village on the southern edge of Dartmoor.
Station House
South Brent
We are very pleased to welcome everyone including dogs to our café bar and accommodation.
