The slopes of Cave Hill were originally used as farmland but, from the 1880s, a major planting exercise was undertaken, producing the now familiar deciduous and coniferous woodland landscape.

[citation needed] It is believed that the fort's inhabitants used the caves to store food for the winter and may have served as a refuge during times of attack.

[1] The hill was originally known in Irish as Beann Mhadagáin (meaning "Madagán's peak"), after a king of Ulaid (Ulster), Matudán mac Muiredaig, who died in 856 AD.

The later king's grandson, Eochaid mac Ardgail, was killed at the battle of Crew Hill in 1004, in which the men of Ulster were defeated by their old enemies, the Cenél nEógain.

[citation needed] The residential neighbourhood at the foot of Cave Hill's entrance is derivatively known as Ben Madigan, with street names to match, and is a wealthy semi-outer city, semi-suburban area.

[citation needed] United Irishmen Theobald Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken allegedly met at Cave Hill in 1795 to take an oath to launch the rebellion of 1798.

[citation needed] The crowning stone Giant's Chair of the O'Neill clan was apparently sited on Cave Hill summit until 1896 and gave its name to the nearby Throne Hospital.

It is understood that RAF Bomber Command was situated on Cave Hill in the early years of World War II before relocating to Castle Archdale in County Fermanagh.

[citation needed] On 1 June 1944, an American Air Force B-17 bomber crashed into Cave Hill during heavy fog, killing all ten crew instantly.

[citation needed] The hill owes its characteristic shape to Paleocene basalt lava flows, from 65 million years ago.

The summit has views southwards over Belfast City and Lough towards the Mourne Mountains, Scrabo Tower and Slieve Croob.