Pilsdon Pen

Infobox Mountain
Name = Pilsdon Pen
Photo = Pilsdon.jpg
Caption = Looking south from the SE end of Pilsdon Pen
Elevation = 277 m (909 ft)
Location = West Dorset, England
Range =
Prominence =
Coordinates =
Topographic
OS "Landranger" 193
Type =
Age =
Easiest route =
Grid_ref_UK = ST413011

Pilsdon Pen is a 277 metre (909 ft) hill in West Dorset, England. The hill is situated five miles west of Beaminster at the north end of the Marshwood Vale. 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 at the request of Michael Pinney. The hill is one of the highest in Dorset and has views as far as Lyme Bay eight miles to the South. It was bequeathed to the National Trust by the Pinney family in 1982.

There are differing views as to the age of the rectilinear (square) structures in the centre, best seen in the National Trust report photo below, possibly medieval "Pillow Mounds" (Man made mounds for breeding rabbits), or earlier origins. Gelling thought there was a case they were earlier, the National Trust in the 1982 excavations (Which restored them to the pre Gelling excavation profile) viewed them as medieval. Additional rectilinear structures are noted in the 1999 National Trust Resistivity survey. (Unpublished).

External links

* [http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/Place/P070.htm The Dorset Page]
* [http://www.wdi.co.uk/air/a6.html Aerial Archaeology]
* [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/829/pilsdon_pen.html The modern antiquarian]
* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-ar_s_wes.pdf National Trust report]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/ST4134901150 Photos from Geograph ]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/709420 The NT sign at the start of the path (Feb 2008)]

References

* 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