Goldsborough, Scarborough

Goldsborough, near Whitby in North Yorkshire, preserves a late 4th-century AD Roman signal station, part of a 60 km coastal chain from Huntcliff to Filey built around 370 CE to defend against sea-raids by Picts, Saxons, and other groups. The earthwork survives as a square mound roughly 30 m across and 1.4 m high with rounded corners. Excavations in 1918 by Hornsby revealed dramatic evidence of violent destruction: two male skeletons and a large dog were found in the tower, one man apparently stabbed in the back, the dog's jaws at the other man's throat. The station likely operated only 20-30 years before abandonment.