By the Rev. Canon J. B. Jackson, F.S.A, 273 
other old Welsh writers, and they spell the name with a slight 
variation, as Pen-huel-goit. Besides, there is, in one of the most 
ancient Welsh histories, a list given of some thirty of the then 
principal cities and towns in Old Britain, and among them is this 
same place reckoned, but it is spelled Pen-sauel-coit. 1 should say 
that all the thirty names begin with Caer, but as Caer only means 
Castle, and is the same in every case, we may throw that aside, and 
deal only with Pen-sauel-coit. Now it so happens that the last 
syllable, Coit, a Welsh word, means wood; so if Pen-sauel-cozé 
means Pen-sauel-wood, a very slight change in the pronunciation of 
the name produces our Penselwood. 
Mr. Kerslake very fairly contends that the Pen Pits are not to be 
judged of by themselves, but that they form only a part of a larger 
story: and that, taken in connexion with the Jarge fortress at the 
top, and the smaller one at the foot, of the hill, they were unquestion- 
ably used in some way for the accommodation of the inhabitants. 
It is not necessary to suppose that the people actually lived in 
these holes. There were, no doubt, superstructures, houses probably | 
of wood. The destruction by exposure to the weather for fifteen or 
sixteen centuries will fully account for the total effacement of every 
token of habitation. How little, Mr. Kerslake observes, is left in 
the numerous camps and earthworks all over the country, even in 
Old Sarum itself, to explain to us what was the actual arrangement 
of buildings within them. ‘“ We have had lately [he says] a rare 
opportunity, in the site of the New Law Courts, of seeing what 
central London looks like when its buildings are levelled: and the 
difference was not very great of the aspect of that clearance and 
the present appearance of this ancient city.” ! 
An illustration occurs to me which may be intelligible to those 
‘who know the City of Edinburgh. The castle there, with some 
buildings around it, stands on the top of a high hill with precipitous 
sides. The approach to it is along the main street of the Old Town 
which slopes upwards from Holyrood palace at the foot of the 
street. Supposing the castle and Holyrood to have been entirely 
1“ Primeval British Metropolis,” p. 16. 
