Solsbury Hill Little Solsbury Hill ( more commonly known as Solsbury Hill ) is a small flat - topped hill and the site of an Iron Age hill fort . It is located above the village of Batheaston in Somerset , England . The hill rises to above the River Avon which is just over to the south . It is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . It gives impressive views of the city of Bath and the surrounding area . The hill was immortalised in 1977 by Peter Gabriel in his song ' Solsbury Hill ' . It is sometimes misspelled as " Salisbury " , or " Solisbury " , perhaps because of confusion with Salisbury Plain ( a plateau in southern England ) , or the city of Salisbury . Salisbury and Solsbury can be difficult to distinguish in speech , as Salisbury is often pronounced " Saulsbury " and sometimes the " a " in " Salisbury " is pronounced as an " o " , and the " i " is elided , making the pronunciations of the two words practically identical . The name Solsbury may be derived from the Celtic god Sulis , a deity worshipped at the thermal spring in nearby Bath . History and archaeology . Background . Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age , roughly the start of the first millennium BC . The reason for their emergence in Britain , and their purpose , has been a subject of debate . It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe , sites built by invaders , or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture . The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain . Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze , and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status . Power passed into the hands of a new group of people . Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase still played a role and has stated " [ the forts ] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [ of an increasing population ] burst out into open warfare . But I wouldn ' t see them as having been built because there was a state of war . They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed , but this was not the only , or even the most significant , factor in their construction " . Description . The hill was an Iron Age hill fort occupied between 300 BC and 100 BC , comprising a triangular area enclosed by a single " univallate " rampart , faced inside and out with well - built dry stone wall s and infilled with rubble . The rampart was wide and the outer face was at least high . The top of the hill was cleared down to the bedrock , then substantial huts were built with wattle and daub on a timber - frame . After a period of occupation , some of the huts were burnt down , the rampart was overthrown , and the site was abandoned , never to be reoccupied . This event is probably part of the Belgic invasion of Britain in the early part of the 1st century BC . The hill is near the Fosse Way Roman Road as it descends Bannerdown hill into Batheaston on its way to Aquae Sulis . Solsbury Hill is a possible location of the Battle of Mount Badon , fought between the Britons ( under the legendary King Arthur ) and the Saxons c . 496 , mentioned by the chroniclers Gildas and Nennius . The hill also has two disused quarries , one quarry listed on the North West side on an 1911 map , and another one listed as an old quarry on the West side in 1885 – 1900 . Wildlife . The slopes are a classic example of limestone grassland reflecting the underlying geology of the area . This limestone habitat supports a wide range of specialist plants and animals , including some rare species . Most of the landscape is largely unaffected by agriculture as shown by the Yellow meadow ant . Examples of plant species found include : Bird ' s Foot Trefoil , vetch es , Greater Knapweed , Bee Pyramidal orchid s , Yarrow ( Achillea millefolium ) , and Ramsons ( Allium ursinum ) . The plants attract a range of insects including : the Six - spotted Burnet Moth and a number of butterflies including Chalkhill Blue s . A small population of Common Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) nesting in the area , Roe Deer ( Capreolus capreolus ) , Badger , Red Fox . The skylark also nests on the hill . Cultural references . Solsbury Hill is also the inspiration for rock musician Peter Gabriel ' s first solo single in 1977 . A recording of the natural sounds on Solsbury Hill forms the track " A Quiet Moment " on Peter Gabriel ' s 2011 album New Blood , which precedes the orchestral version of his song . The Warlord Chronicles , a historical fiction trilogy of books , places the site of Mount Badon at Solsbury Hill . Contemporary issues . People protesting against the building of an A46 bypass road cut a small turf maze into the hill during the construction of the bypass in the mid - 1990s .