History
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. The name Maes Knoll is derived from the Celtic word Maerc meaning boundary. The existing scarp slopes were steepened and, on the north-western edge of the fort is an earthen mound, known as Maes Knoll Tump, about 7.5 metres (25 ft) above the rests of the fort defences, which is 60 metres (200 ft) across and 15 metres (49 ft) above a defensive ditch.
The later Wansdyke runs west from it along the north side of Dundry Hill and south-east from it.
During the Second World War, a draughty, rectangular, corrugated-iron hut on the top of the tump sheltered Dundry Home Guard soldiers, allowing them to watch for enemy aircraft and potential parachute or glider invasions of Bristol. The flat plateau immediately to the east of Maes Knoll tump had perhaps 50 stone cairns to deter enemy glider landings.
Read more about this topic: Maes Knoll
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)