There has been plenty of evidence found up here on this plateau for the Mesolithic era onwards: flints, Bronze Age barrows, the Iron Age fort of ‘Little Down’, remains of a Roman town.. There were 20+ barrows but many have been ploughed out or otherwise destroyed. However, in one of them (officially titled ‘number 3’ though I am yet to find out where this is) a gold disc was found. It was labelled a ‘sun disc’ by archaeologists, and similar designs have been found across Europe from the Bronze Age. It’s probably languishing in the British Museum now and I had to make do with a drawing in the Bristol Museum.
It is a nice area to stroll in – cross the racecourse and admire the view from ‘Prospect Stile’, including the weird tree-crowned Kelston Round Hill (which begs to have prehistoric pagan significance, though I don’t know if it does), and walk along the edge to Little Down fort.