PI3N PITS. 
99 
rubble, succeeded by live feet of sandstone (locally called Penstone), 
resting on green and buff-coloured sand, of which a thickness of thirty- 
two feet was proved. 
The Greensand forms an escarpment, called Penridge, facing the 
west, and overlooking a vale of Oxford and Kimeridge (?) clays. To 
the east of this high ground a lateral valley has been hollowed out 
through the Greensand to the clay beneath ; and in this deep and 
ramifying valley, in what are now the picturesque grounds of Stour- 
head, rises the river which gives its name to the place, and to the 
adjoining village of Stourton. 
Upon two spurs of the Greensand bordering the Stour valley, and 
not far to the east of Penzlewood (or Pen Selwood) Church, the exca¬ 
vations are found. These are separated by Kose Combe, to the south 
of which are the Pen Pits proper, those on the north being called the 
Gaspar Pits. At the eastern end of the Gaspar promontory are 
remains of earthworks, and a keep called the Castel—fortifications 
which the Committee decide to be probably Norman, if not earlier. 
But a most interesting conclusion which they formed was that prior 
to the erection of these earthworks excavations had been made for the 
purpose of obtaining Penstone. Further investigations among the 
Gaspar Pits revealed only evidence of workings for stone, and not 
of habitations. In all cases the pits had been partially refilled by 
subsequent weathering and falling in of the sides. 
Turning their attention to the Pen Pits proper, the Committee 
made an examination of two deep cone-shaped pits, where the usual 
rubble of chert, sand, and penstone was met with, and nothing found 
but a few fragments of charcoal and chalk-flint. A block of penstone, 
with tool markings, was the only object of any importance worthy of 
notice. The results of this investigation of the Committee, “ showing 
an entire absence of pottery, or any other trace of human occupation, 
warrant them in concluding that, in spite of any preconceived opinions 
to the contrary, these pits were never intended for the purpose of 
dwellings but that they were the work of people who had dug into the 
surrounding high grounds in search of that hard bed of Greensand 
rock—locally called Penstone—lying close to the surface, beneath a 
debris of chert and rubble, which must have been of as great value to 
them for their various purposes, whether for millstones, querns, or the 
more prosaic erection of cottage walls, etc., as it is to the cottagers of 
the present day who live in the neighbourhood, and are constantly 
digging into the surface of the broken ground for similar purposes.”* 
While this is the general result expressed in the Keport, it should 
be added that, owing to the limited tract investigated, several members 
of the Committee are of opinion that farther research is desirable 
before any conclusive evidence against a very early settlement can be 
arrived at. Whatever decision may ultimately be formed on this 
question, there is no doubt that openings have been made for stone, 
and Mr. Alfred Gillett told me several years ago that material for 
* “ Proc. Somerset Archeeol. and Nat. Hist. Sou. ” vol. xv. 
