Solent of nationally important protected landscapes including the New Forest National Park, and the Isle of Wight AONB. The word first appears in the Saxon record as "Solentan", but pre-dates the English language and is first recorded as "Soluente" in 731. This original spelling suggests a possible derivation from the Brittonic element "-uente", which has endured throughout the history of Hampshire, being present in the Roman city of Venta Belgarum, the medieval kingdom of Gwent (or Y Went), and the modern town of Winchester. A pre-Celtic and supposedly Semitic root meaning "free-standing rock" has also been suggested as a possible description
Cowbridge (Roman town) Cowbridge (Roman town) Cowbridge was a small castra in Roman Wales within the Roman province of Britannia Superior. Today the contemporary settlement, Cowbridge, has a population of roughly 3,600. Its name in Latin is unknown, although it is the strongest candidate for Bovium (corrected from the ablative Bomio) of the Antonine Itinerary. Its remains have been discovered beneath Cowbridge in the Welsh county of Vale of Glamorgan, previously Glamorganshire. A Roman bath house or Thermae, abandoned by the early 2nd century, has been discovered which had bricks stamped by the 2nd Legion, suggesting perhaps some kind of early military establishment