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The Trundle

Causewayed Enclosure

<b>The Trundle</b>Posted by A R CaneImage © A R Cane
Nearest Town:Chichester (6km S)
OS Ref (GB):   SU877111 / Sheet: 197
Latitude:50° 53' 31.65" N
Longitude:   0° 45' 10.51" W

Added by dickie


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Fieldnotes

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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. dickie Posted by dickie
24th April 2002ce

Folklore

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In the same district, near to what must be the most delightfully situated racecourse in the land is the Trundle Hill, Goodwood, which takes its name from an ancient British earthwork on the summit, where is buried Aaron's golden calf, upon which His Satanic Majesty keeps a paternal eye. To quote Clare Jerrold:

"People know very well where it is - I could show you the place any day."
"Why don't you dig it up then?"
"Oh, that is not allowed; He would not let me."
"Well, has any one ever tried?"
"Oh, yes: but it is never there when you look; He moves it away."
Hastings and St Leonard's Observer, 1st August 1936.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
20th June 2023ce

To add to Bryony's note,

"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."
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
22nd February 2006ce
Edited 18th December 2006ce

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. Posted by bryony
15th February 2003ce