The parish of Pen Selwood in Somerset stands on the southern end of a prominent wooded ridge which formed the core of the ancient forest of Selwood and at the boundary between Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire (marked by a boundary stone, called Egbert’s Stone). The ridge forms a watershed between the rivers Stour and the Brue.

The site was a strategic crossroads since it overlooked an East-West route descending the chalk Ridgeway near White Sheet Hill onto the Somerset levels following the Harrow Way to Exeter, and was also one of the North-South routes via the river Stour between the south coast and the lead mines in the Mendips. It is an area rich in history with evidence for Bronze age settlements, an Iron Age fort, and three Norman Motte and Bailey castles.

The most ancient visible structures are Pen Pits which are stone quarries worked during the Iron Age, Roman, early Medieval and later periods for the production of querns and building material, and they are designated a Scheduled Monument. They originally covered at least 700 acres and numbered some 20,000 pits.  The two designated and best-preserved areas are now within woodland where they have been protected from the plough. Richard Colt Hoare, who lived at nearby Stourhead investigated them in depth in his ‘History of Ancient Wiltshire’, 1812, without reaching a clear conclusion as to their purpose. It is probable they were used for a variety of purposes though not as dwellings and we do have evidence that Penselwood was significant supplier of millstones to manors in southern England in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Being in such a strategic position it is inevitable there were some memorable battles fought. Kenwalch’s Castle at the northern end of the ridge is Iron Age, and was likely reused as a Roman fortress. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and has been connected with the site of the Battle of Peonnum in 658 which opened up the West Country to the Saxons.

In the spring of 878, King Alfred allegedly gathered his army together around a small hill at the Egbert Stone near Pen Mill prior to defeating the Danes at Ethandune near Edington, Wiltshire. 

In 1001, King Ethelred's army was overwhelmed by the much larger Danish army and retreated, only to be pursued and wiped out by the Danes who then reportedly burnt the village of Pen to the ground. The Danes lost a much more significant battle here in 1016 when King Edmund Ironside was the victor.

There was more activity during the Norman conquest of 1066. Three Motte and Bailey castles sit within 2 kilometres of each other - Ballands Castle, Cockroad Wood and Castle Orchard, and may have been built as part of a system of fortifications to control the surrounding area. One speculation is that they are related to the subjugation following the uprising against Montacute in 1069.

By 1086 Pen Selwood was worth £3 and consisted of 16 dwellings. See the Doomsday record.

Almost certainly Pen Selwood was involved in the Monmouth rebellion in 1685 and oral history tells of a drum, armour and two swords of the Monmouth period were found while re-thatching a house at Bulbs Farm. It is very likely the Duke of Monmouth escaped through Selwood Forest.

The battle of Peonnan is thought to have taken place here in 658. King Cenwalh (Cenwalch or Kenwalh), the Saxon King who ruled Wessex from 643 - 672, defeated the Britons in a series of battles including this one which, it is said, opened up the West Country to the Saxons. Kenwalh's Castle, or Cenwealhs Camp, a hill fort, lies to the North of Pen Selwood. 

Pen Selwood's history has been recorded in considerable detail in various publications over the years:

• CAER PENSAUELCOIT a long lost unromanised BRITISH METROPOLIS - published in 1882 by Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
• The Result of Further Excavations at Pen Pits - by Rev 1-LI-I. Winwood, F.G.S. published by Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1885.
• The Story of PEN SELWOOD by Mary Harfield in 1965
• Pen Selwood - A Village on the edge of the great Selwood Forest by Jock Baker and Michael Shiel (illustrated by Olivia Bovil) in 1988
• Pen to Paper - Memories of Pen Selwood by Vi Hocking (compiled by Andrew Jenkins) in 1997.
• British History online
• Pen Ridge through the Ages by Jonathan Cox

Download a printable history leaflet here