Hadleigh Roman Signal Station

Signal Station

This suspected Roman site lies on the crest of a 230 foot (c.70 m) ridge just south of Hadleigh in Essex, with spectacular views overlooking the Benfleet Creek and the marshlands of Canvey Island, and beyond to the Thames Estuary. The site is square in outline with two widely-spaced ditches and a staggered entrance, with egress to the site requiring a quarter-circuit of the defences between the ditches; this defensive measure is also used at the roughly contemporary station at Countisbury on the north Devon coast. The space between the ditches measures about 200 ft. (c.61 m) square, and encloses an area of just under an acre (c.0.37 ha). The site closely resembles that at Thornham, which is also thought to be contemporary with the Hadleigh and Countisbury stations, forming part of the same coastal defensive system. (JRS 1953 p.97.)

References for Hadleigh

  • Air Reconnaissance of Southern Britain by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. XLIII (1953) pp.81-97; 

Map References for Hadleigh

NGRef: TQ8086 OSMap: LR178

Roman Roads near Hadleigh

None identified

Sites near Hadleigh Roman Signal Station
  • Canterbury (Durovernum) Roman Fort
    British Capital, Claudian Auxiliary Fort (AD 43–54) and Oppidum
  • Winchester (Venta Belgarum)
    British Capital
  • Dover (Portus Dubris) Classis Britannica Fort
    Auxiliary Fort