 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, including the anchoress Lucy de Newchurch, lived between 1314 and 1480.During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century it was a popular venue for public meetings by reform groups like the Chartists.