[1] Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC.

[4] The hill fort, which is approximately 390 by 84 feet (119 m × 26 m), and 45 feet (14 m) in height, covering 20 acres (8.1 ha), consists of a fairly large flat open area, roughly triangular in shape, that has been fortified by ramparts and shaping of the steep-sided hilltop around the northern, eastern and southwestern sides of the hill.

[5] It is believed to have been built, around 250 BC, by the Dobuni who were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion of Britain.

During the Second World War, a small, draughty, rectangular, corrugated-iron hut on the top of the tump sheltered two or more of Dundry's Home Guard, allowing them to spot enemy aircraft and potential parachute or glider invasions of Bristol.

The flat plateau immediately to the east of Maes Knoll had some 50 wartime stone cairns to deter enemy glider landings.