Trundle

The Trundle is an Iron Age hillfort on St Roche’s Hill, four miles north of Chichester in West Sussex. It stands on a chalk outcrop that rises above the surrounding ridges, making it visible from all directions. The hillfort was built on top of an earlier Neolithic causewayed enclosure, a type of earthwork with interrupted ditches. A ruined chapel to St Roche once stood on the summit, and later a windmill and beacon were added. The site served as a meeting place in later centuries. Archaeologists first recognised the Neolithic enclosure in 1925 when an aerial photograph revealed hidden structures beneath the hillfort. O.G.S. Crawford took the photograph, and E. Cecil Curwen excavated the site in 1928 and 1930. Radiocarbon dating in 2011 showed the Neolithic part was built around the mid-fourth millennium BC. Fifteen possible Iron Age house platforms were noted inside the hillfort’s ramparts. Visitors reach the summit along clear paths and find a well-defined bank and ditch forming an irregular nine-sided enclosure. Two entrances mark the east and west sides, and the highest bank stands over five metres above the ditch bottom. The inner ditch encloses just under one hectare, while the Iron Age ramparts cover more than five hectares. An Ordnance Survey trig point marks the highest point at 206 metres. The views stretch across the South Downs and towards Chichester.