Teig, for the Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet, from a Drawing by Fenton Esq

Door way of Pen Church Somerset Shire

Published for the Proprietors. by W Clarke Now Bond Street & J.Carpenter, Old Bond SMay 11.

J

THE SAXON DOOR-WAY OF PEN

CHURCH,

SOMERSETSHIRE.

PEN is a small village on the borders of Somersetshire, near Stourton, at the extremity of that vast tract formerly called Selwood Forest, and is memorable for having been the scene of several bloody conflicts between the Britons and Saxons, and afterwards between the Danes and Saxons, of which the Saxon chronicle particularly records. three that happened A. D. 658, 1001, and 1016. The tradition of the last battle, fought by Canute the Dane, with Edmund, probably near the spot on which the Church of Pen was founded, in gratitude, by the victor, seems to be confirmed in the ancient Door-way, the only remaining portion of the original structure, where the heads of two crowned monarchs have been placed as supporters to the arch, which is of the Saxon order, decorated with the usual zigzag ornaments, and a piece of rude emblematical sculpture in the centre.

Adjoining the site of this Church are those singular excavations called Pen Pits, evidently the work of human art, which extended over a surface of ground not much short of 700 acres, if we include those nearly