Sybil Penn, wife of David, was dry nurse and foster mother to King Edward VI and Lady of the Bed Chamber to his sister, Queen Elizabeth I.

[7][8] The local public houses, The Squirrel in Penn Street and The Red Lion in Knotty Green, face their respective commons.

Penn remains home to Earl Howe of the Penn-Curzon-Howe dynasty, which gained more wealth through the Inclosure Acts, which gave legal property rights to land previously in communal use.

Years of unlawful protest followed, when poaching was rife and fences were pulled down as local people tried to retrieve what they deemed legitimately theirs.

The Cottage Bookshop in Penn was one location in "A Tale of Two Hamlets", an episode of the ITV television programme, Midsomer Murders.

It was also used to film an episode called "Bookshop Chuckles" in the children's television show, ChuckleVision, and the three-acre set for Nanny McPhee was constructed there.