Maiden Castle (Dorchester)

A halt was made at a pit, and [the Rev. W. Barnes] observed that military men wondered how the people taking refuge in these fortifications obtained water [...] This pit was in the shape of an inverted cone. Some thought that it had been a chalk-pit. [...] Others thought it was a cattle-pond, but it was too steep to be used for such a purpose. Dr. Cowdell had told him that he dug at the bottom of the pit, and found it to be lined with flint stones, and his (Dr. Cowdell's) theory was that the pit was used as a tank, in which the occupants of the castle placed the water fetched from the spring for their use. At the present time he did not believe the pit would hold water for any length of time.

The Rev. C. W. Bingham observed there was a tradition as well founded as traditions generally were, that once upon a time a goose was put into this hole, and the same afternoon it came up at the town pump of Durnovaria [Dorchester].