[2] It was recorded in the Domesday book as Petenie supporting the alternative meaning of 'the traversing stream' from the Old English pæþþan and ea.

[3] Several significant archaeological finds have been made at Pitney, including the remains of a Roman villa (roof tiles, pottery, and mosaic) uncovered in the 19th century,[4] and the Pitney brooch, a Saxon cast bronze openwork brooch, modelled after a late Viking design and now in the British Museum.

The 1848 publication, A Topographical Dictionary of England,[8] describes Pitney as an agricultural village of 465 people and writes of the Roman villa: At this place has been discovered perhaps the most perfect pavement of an ancient villa yet found in England; the ruins cover about an acre and a half of ground, and the remains of the mosaics show the former splendour of the buildings.

The late Sir Richard C. Hoare, who had the subjects illustrated by engravings, supposes, from the English costume of the chief figures, that the villa belonged to the lord of the manor, and was not raised till after the departure of the Romans.

It is also part of the Glastonbury and Somerton county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.