Scarborough Castle Collection Highlighlts
Scarborough Castle has collections spanning from prehistory to the 20th century.
Many discoveries about the history and archaeology of the site were made during military works from the 18th century to the 20th, as the site was used as a military base, training camp and observation post.
The first formal excavations took place on the site of the Roman signal station during the 1920s and were carried out by FG Simpson. Many of those finds are held by Scarborough Museums Trust. The Trust has also acquired the excavation archive notes taken by Simpson and his daughter Grace. Further clearance and excavations were overseen by the Ministry of Works and its successors following state guardianship of the site.
English Heritage holds much of this archive and maintains the display of artefacts from the site in the site museum. This includes items from the English Heritage collection as well as loan items from Scarborough Museums Trust. The reserve collection and paper-based site archive are kept at English Heritage’s Helmsley Archaeology Store.
The British Museum holds a Bronze Age sword and pottery discovered in a pit in 1980 by the south-west wall of the medieval King’s Hall (replicas are on display on site), as well as an example of the Civil War siege coinage.
