Pilsdon Pen

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

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. (Unpublished).

Notes

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

The Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe Manor, Bettiscombe, is the skull of a Jamaican slave. John Frederick Pinney disposed of the Nevis estates and returned to the family home of Bettiscombe Manor in the early nineteenth century, accompanied by one of the family's faithful black servants. While in his master's service, the servant was taken seriously ill with suspected tuberculosis. As he lay dying, the servant swore that he would never rest unless his body was returned back to his homeland of Nevis. When he eventually died, John Frederick Pinney refused to pay for such an expensive burial and had the body interred, against the servant's dying wish in the grounds of St. Stephen's Church cemetery.After the burial, permissive ill fortune plagued the village for many months and continuous screams and crying could be heard coming from the cemetery. Other disturbances were reported from the manor house; windows would rattle when there was no wind and doors slam of their own accord. The villagers could not take much more and went to the manor to seek advice. The body of the servant was subsequently exhumed and the body taken to the manor house.In the process of time the skeleton has long since vanished, except for the skull where it has remained in the house for centuries.

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

• The Dorset Page
• The modern antiquarian
• National Trust report
• Photos from Geograph
• The NT sign at the start of the path (Feb 2008)
• Stile inscribed with Wordsworth quote
• The history of the Screaming Skull and Pinney Family