Where does the word bent in regards to beaches in Scotland come from? E.g. Longniddry Bents?

Question

Where does the word bent in regards to beaches in Scotland come from? E.g. Longniddry Bents?

Answer 1

I agree with above but would add that when I was a boy we would call a sort of meadow or heath usually mainly of the aforesaid grass where it bordered the strand of the shore the (or a)  'bent'. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Longniddry (East Lothian: N55:58:42 W2:53:27; 344500 676500). Probable.

Watson gives this as Old English lang + p-Celtic newydd, 'new' + tref (1926, 363; cf. Padel 1985, s.v. nowyth). Observing early attestations such as Langnudre (1424), he thinks the development of newydd in this case may have been influenced by Gaelic nuadh/nodha. Mackenzie gives the second element as noeth, 'naked' (1931, 221; cf. Padel 1985, s.v. noth). Nicolaisen agrees with Watson (1976, 169), and I am inclined to agree, although I suggest an alternative nawdd, 'protection' as the second element, in which case the whole would mean 'sanctuary farm, estate.'

Bents referred to coarse grass growing by the sea or to hassocks made of that sedge (grass)