It has long been known that there is a pool inside of the fort. But when the archeologist Dr H. N. Savory excavated the hill fort between 1954-6, he was surprised to find that not only were the fortification of about the right time frame for either Vortigern or Ambrosius, but that there was a platform above the pool as described in the Historia Britonum! However, he found the platform to date much later than the accepted florit of either personage, showing that the story was not entirely accurate. The question of whether the existence of the platform near the pool or cistern inspired the story, or the platform was built in response to the story has not been determined.
Savory described the fortifications as consisting of stone walls between 2.5 and 3 meters thick, which exploited every irregularity in the rocky hill-top, enclosing an irregular area of about a hectare in size. The original means of access was by a steep path on the western side of the hill fort; the present entrance from the north-east is a later addition.
The most conspicuous object currently on the hill, the base of a rectangular tower, is part of an undocumented castle, most likely built by the Welsh in the twelfth century.
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