View source for Maes Knoll

{{county|Somerset}}
[[File:Maes_Knoll_Tump.jpg|thumb|350px|Maes Knoll]]
[[File:Maes Knoll Somerset Map.jpg|thumb|Plan of the site]]
'''Maes Knoll''' (sometimes '''Maes tump''' or '''Maes Knoll tump''') is an Iron Age hill fort in Somerset, located at the eastern end of the [[Dundry Down]] ridge, south of the city of [[Bristol]] and north of the village of [[Norton Malreward]] near the eastern side of [[Dundry Hill]]. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.<ref>{{cite web|title=Maes Knoll|url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=201029|work=National Monuments Record|publisher=[[English Heritage]]|accessdate=24 March 2011}}</ref>

==Description==
The hill fort, which is approximately 390 x 84 ft, and 45 ft in height, covering 20 acres, 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 south-western sides of the hill. It rises to an altitude of 646 ft above sea level,<ref name="banes">{{cite web|title=Area 5 – The Dundry Plateau|url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/environmentandplanning/landandpremises/Landscape/Pages/rlarea5.aspx|work=Landscape Character|publisher=Bath and North East Somerset Council|accessdate=2 October 2010}}</ref> and provides views over the lands it would have once commanded. From here, there are clear views north to Bristol, east to [[Bath]] and the [[Cotswold Hills]], and south over [[Stanton Drew]] stone circles to [[Chew Valley Lake]] and the [[Mendip Hills]]. The underlying rocks are Inferior Oolite of the Jurassic period.<ref name="banes"/>

==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 old English word ''Maerc'' meaning ''boundary''.<ref name="wansdyke">{{cite web|title=Maes Knoll Iron Age camp|url=http://www.wansdyke21.org.uk/wansdyke/wanwesteast/wanwest1.htm|publisher=Wansdyke Project 21|accessdate=25 July 2010}}</ref> 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 24 ft 6 in above the rests of the fort defences, which is 200 ft across and 50 ft above a defensive ditch.<ref name="wansdyke"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Maes Knoll|url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=8405|publisher=Megalithic Portal|accessdate=25 July 2010}}</ref>

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.

==References==
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{{reflist}}
*{{Megalithic Portal|8405}}

== Outside links ==
*[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?x=360050&y=166150 Illustrated description]

[[Category:Hill forts in Somerset]]