Better known as a local picnic site with good views over Goodwood, the downs and Chichester. The iron-age hillfort dominates the hill profile but there is an internal Neolithic Causewayed enclosure and pits which were excavated in the 20's.
"on the Trundle, near Goodwood, Aaron's Golden Calf lies buried, and local people in the 1870's claimed to know the very spot -- only no one could dig it up, because whenever anyone tried, the Devil came and moved it away."
From Brewer's 'Dictionary of Phrase and Fable' 1870 (351,761) and the Rev. W D Parish's 'Dictionary of Sussex Dialect' of 1875, and mentioned by Jacqueline Simpson in:
Sussex Local Legends
Folklore, Vol. 84, No. 3. (Autumn, 1973), pp. 206-223.
She also says (p207) "Modern archaeological excavations may serve to reinforce [traditions of buried treasure]; a party digging on the Trundle in 1928 found that the story of the Golden Calf 'was much upon the lips of the people of Singleton during the progress of our excavation'. Their presence can only have strengthened, not created, the belief, for it happens that this particular tale first appeared in print in 1870."
Aaron's Golden calf was supposed to be buried in the hill. Another version says it is a hoarde of Viking treasure guarded by a ghostly calf which can be heard bleating.
Excellent overall history of the Trundle/St. Roches Hill from the paleolithic to the roman times and later including folklore. Good coverage of the Neolithic Causewayed enclosure
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