Brent Knoll is in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, 2 miles NE of Burnham-on-Sea. The name of the village is taken from the hill topped by a hillfort that rises immediately to the east.

The village of Brent Knoll follows the lane around the base of Brent Knoll, from its NW sector to its S, where it joins the main A38 trunk road from Bristol to Taunton. The M5 runs only a few hundred yards further east. Brent Knoll is an Upper Lias protrusion above the dominant Middle Lias of the area, 456 feet (139m) high at its summit, mainly surrounded by the Somerset levels, it is perhaps the most prominent landmark in this part of the county. It bears the marks of agricultural and military exploitation from prehistoric times. The manor house and church hug the lower slopes of its relatively sheltered SW flank. It is about 2 miles from the present shoreline of the Bristol Channel to the W. On a clear day it is visible from well down the Channel. Unfortunately, views from the church are limited except to the south, and these are impeded by trees and housing. The church consists of a nave with a separately roofed N aisle and a S porch, a S transept (now the vestry), a chancel and a W tower. Romanesque features are the S nave doorway, a pillar piscina in the N aisle and the font.

Pevsner omits any mention of the font, which the EH list description calls 11thc. Romanesque quatrefoil fonts are not common. That at St Mary’s, Stafford was related by Drake (2002) to Scandinavian work. Others at Broadwell and Westwell (both Oxfordshire) are much less delicately carved. In the opinion of the editor this font is unlikely to be either Romanesque or Anglo-Saxon; it presents parallels with the fine mouldings and ogee profiles typical of 14thc work. The pillar piscina, in contrast, is certainly 12thc work.