Pilsdon Pen

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Pilsdon Pen
Looking south from the SE end of Pilsdon Pen
Elevation	277 m (909 ft)
Listing	Tump
Location
Location	West Dorset, England
Range	Marshwood & Powerstock Vales
OS grid	ST413011
Topo map	OS Landranger 193

Pilsdon Pen is a 277 metre (909 ft) hill in West Dorset, England, situated five miles west of Beaminster at the north end of the Marshwood Vale. It is Dorset's second highest point and has panoramic views extending for many miles. It was bequeathed to the National Trust by the Pinney family in 1982.

Geology and archaeology

The hill is a lower greensand Cretaceous outcrop situated amongst Jurassic strata of marl and clay, at the border between the chalk of South-East England and the granite of Devon and Cornwall.

The hill is topped by an Iron Age multivallate Durotrigian hill fort which was excavated in the 1960s by Peter Gelling of the University of Birmingham with his wife Margaret Gelling at the request of Michael Pinney. The remains of 14 roundhouses were uncovered near the centre of the hill fort.

There are differing views as to the age of the rectilinear (square) structures in the centre of the fort (best seen in the National Trust report photo ): they may be medieval "pillow mounds" (man-made mounds for breeding rabbits), or could be earlier in origin. There is no clear evidence to distinguish the other mounds between pillow mounds and burial mounds, and the acid soil causes almost all bone and pottery to be in very poor condition.The National Trust in the 1982 excavations (which restored the mounds to their original profile prior to Gelling's excavation) viewed them as medieval; Gelling thought there was a case they were earlier. Additional rectilinear structures are noted in the 1999 National Trust Resistivity survey.

Other notable high points in the vicinity are Lewesdon Hill (279 m), Dorset's highest point some 4 kilometres to the east, and Blackdown Hill (215 m), about 2 kilometres northwest.

Notes

Pilsdon Pen is said to have consoled Dorothy Wordsworth as she pined for the Lakeland hills when staying nearby.

References

Bibliography

Gelling, P. S. 1977: Excavations on Pilsdon Pen, Dorset, 1964-71. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 43, 263-286.
Publications of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society - Excavations at Pilsdon Pen, P.S.Gelling, 86 102; 87 90; 88 106-107; 89 123-125; 90 166-167; 91 177-178; 92 126-127; 93 133-134
Publications of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society - Excavations at Pilsdon Pen Hillfort, 1982, D.W.R.Thackray, 104 178-179

External links

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