Brandon Hill, Bristol

Brandon Hill was granted to the council in 1174 by the Earl of Gloucester and was used for grazing until 1625 when it became a public open space, possibly the oldest municipal open space in the country. Before the Reformation, a hermitage and chapel dedicated to the Irish saint Brendan stood at the summit of the hill, in which a series of hermits lived between 1314 and 1480, including the anchoress Lucy de Newchurch. When the antiquary William Worcester visited St Brendan's chapel in 1480 he recorded it as being 8.5 yards long x 5 yards wide. The hermitage belonged to St James' Priory in Bristol, who likened the hill to Mount Calvary in Jerusalem. 1673 map of Bristol]] In 1533, Bristol…