By the Rev. Canon J. E. 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-ctf^ 

 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 large 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/'' 1 



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 " Primaeval British Metropolis," p. 16. 



