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Pilsdon Pen

Hillfort

Folklore

Pillesdon Pen is a remarkably high hill, a mile north from the village. On its easter limit, near the turnpike road leading from Broad Windsor to Furzemoor Gate and Lambart's Castle, is a large and very strong Entrenchment, encompassed with a triple rampart and ditches, excepting on the eastern summit, where the natural ascent is so steep, as to have rendered the camp inaccessible. The form of this Camp is nearly oval, being adapted to the shape of the hill on which it stands.

Fuller, in his Worthies of England, mentions a proverbial saying current here;
"as much a-kin
As Lew'son Hill to Pil'son Pen;"

which was spoken of such as have vicinity without acquaintance.

The two hills are within a mile of each other, and form eminent sea marks: the seamen denominate one the Cow, and the other the Calf, from their imagined resemblance to those animals when beheld from a distance.
From p525 in The Beauties of England and Wales, Or, Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive of each County. Vol 4. John Britton and Edward Wedlake Brayley, 1803. Online at Google Books.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
18th March 2007ce
Edited 18th March 2007ce

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