Selwood Forest. 269 
quite easy to accept as history. On the other hand, researches of 
this kind may be successful, and to one instance of this kind I will 
first call your attention, because it relates to a curious place within 
the district of Selwood Forest, and therefore properly belongs to 
our subject, and to the darkest part of it.! 
A mile or two beyond Stourhead, there is, as some of you may 
be aware, on the high ground thereabout, a large square-shaped 
piece of table-land, a sort of platform, the sides of which are steep 
declivities. On this platform stands the little scattered village of 
Penselwood. Pen is a very commonly found Welsh word, meaning 
head, and so the name signifies, not improperly, the head of Selwood. 
On the slope of this platform, facing east, lie the celebrated Pen 
Pits. Of these I must attempt some description. 
You are aware that the river Stour rises from six springs, on a 
hillside within the demesne of Stourhead. It flows down into a 
valley towards the south. Follow the stream for about a couple of 
miles: the ground on both sides slopes up to a considerable height. 
The slope on the right hand is Pen Common. This reaches the 
table-land, or platform, on which is the hamlet of Penselwood. The 
boundary of Pen Common on the south is a high ridge which runs 
all the way down from the top of the hill to the brook at the bottom. 
It forms a kind of spur or promontory jutting out from the great 
platform. The lower end of this ridge has been used for a fort. 
It has been partly heightened by heaping soil on to it, and it is 
cut off from the rest of the ridge by an artificial gap or ravine, for 
security. Immediately after this ravine is another portion of the 
same ridge, that has been used for an outer court, or baily, to the 
fort or castle, and this outer court is in like manner cut off from the 
rest by another gap or ravine for further security—the whole 
showing, beyond a doubt, that the lower part of the ridge has been 
at some time or other used for some purpose of defence ; all this is 
_1This paper formed the subject of a lecture delivered at the Warminster 
Atheneum in February last. The writer expressed at that time an opinion upon 
the Penselwood question which he has since seen reason to change. He was not 
then aware of the extent to which the controversy had been carried, and had not 
seen some of the publications relating to it. 
