[3] David Nash Ford associated nearby Ilchester with the Cair Pensa vel Coyt [4] listed among the 28 cities of Britain by the History of the Britons on the basis that it should be read as an Old Welsh form of 'Penselwood'[5] (coit being Welsh for "forest"), although others view it as three separate words: Pensa or Coyt.

[6] A couple of miles north of the village amidst the trees are the remains of Kenwalch's Castle, an Iron Age hill fort which may be the location of the Battle of Peonnum in 658,[3][7] mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.

[13] Penselwood is near the start of the Leland trail, a 28-mile (45.1 km) footpath which runs from King Alfred's Tower to Ham Hill Country Park.

[15] Penselwood is the setting for James Long's books, Ferney and its sequel The Lives She Left Behind, which mention many of the historical events that took place in or near the village.