It is the highest part of an outlier of the South Downs, separated from the main range by Glynde Reach, a tributary of the River Ouse.

[2] Pollen records (from peat at the southern base) indicate that prior to 2000 BC the hill was covered with dark yew woodlands.

[3] The fact that a single Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead is the only pre-Bronze Age find on Caburn, despite the extent and duration of excavations, suggests that there was little permanent occupation then.

[2] The summit was initially enclosed in the middle Iron Age (c. 400 BC), with a deep V-shaped ditch and a bank of dumped spoil.

However the most recent excavators have challenged this assumption, arguing instead that the site was a religious enclosure, rather than a military fort or fortified farmstead.

This outer ditch has long been assumed to be a late Iron Age (re-)fortification, perhaps in response to the threat from Rome.

During the Second World War two slit trenches and a three-sided Bren position were dug into Caburn as part of a 'stop-line' to defend against invasion.

Populations of European stonechats live in scrubby bushes such as gorse near the golf club and in the valley below, along with other song birds such as blue tits.

There is a sheltered cave with a water trough where lost sheep can rest safely if they stray away from the flock on a dark night when the farmer is rounding up the animals.