York Castle is a fortification in the city of York, England. The principal remains of the 13th-14th century castle are the keep, which is known as Clifford's Tower, and some of the curtain wall.
History
The original castle
After the Norman Conquest of 1068–1069, William the Conqueror established two motte and bailey wooden castles in York: the present-day York Castle between the Rivers Ouse and Foss, and what is now Baile Hill on the West bank of the Ouse.
In 1190 the wooden tower of York Castle was the last refuge of the 150 Jewish residents in York. Richard de Malbis (Richard Malebisse) was a debtor of Aaron of Lincoln, an influential Jewish banker of the late 12th century. When a fire broke out in the city of York, de Malbis used the opportunity to incite a mob to attack the home of a recently deceased agent of Aaron of Lincoln named Benedict of York, killing his widow and children and burning the house. Joce (Joseph), the leader of the Jewish community of York, obtained the permission of the warden of York Castle to remove his wife and children and the rest of the Jews into the castle, where they probably took refuge in a tower that stood where Clifford's Tower now stands. The mob surrounded the castle, and when the warden left the castle the Jews, fearing the entry of the mob, would not readmit him. The warden appealed to the sheriff, who called out the county militia. The militia lay siege to the tower for several days till on 16 March 1190 the tower caught fire. Many Jews either perished in the flames or took their own lives rather give themselves up to the mob; those who did surrender were killed. In all around 150 Jews died. A plaque on the hill on which the tower stands reads:
The king's Chancellor dismissed the sheriff and constable for failing to prevent the massacre and imposed a heavy fine on York's citizens. However, the ringleaders had fled and could not be brought to justice.
The rebuilt castle
Around 1200, a start was made on rebuilding the bailey defences of the castle on the east bank of the Ouse (the present day castle) in stone. Following a storm in 1228, the reconstructed wooden tower on the motte was destroyed. Finally, in 1245 the decision was taken to rebuild the entire castle in stone and crown the existing motte with a stone keep, known as the King's Tower. By 1358, the heavy stone keep had subsided and the southeastern lobe cracked from top to bottom.
Following the Battle of Boroughbridge some of the defeated rebel leaders were hanged in chains from the keep, including Sir Roger Clifford. It is from this event that the name "Clifford's Tower" seems to have arisen; still, the tower continued to be called the King's Tower for many centuries thereafter.
In 1536, political leader Robert Aske was hanged above Clifford's Tower on the orders of King Henry VIII, following the failure of Aske's Pilgrimage of Grace protest against the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Also in the sixteenth century a tower keeper sold some of the stonework. He managed to sell some ten layers before anyone noticed. He was hanged.
A fire engulfed Clifford's Tower in 1684, when it was being used as a garrison, and only the exterior walls survived. The ruined tower subsequently became an ornamental feature in the grounds of a large house which had been built to the north-east.
The eighteenth century
In the eighteenth century, three new buildings forming a U shape were erected to the south of Clifford's Tower. These were the County Gaol (1701-5, by William Wakefield) on the south side, the Assize Courts (1773-7, by John Carr) on the west side, and the Female Prison (1780-3, after Carr) on the east side. The Assize Courts building now houses York Crown Court, while the Female Prison and the County Gaol, which later became the Debtors' Prison, now house the Castle Museum. The circular grassed area between these buildings is known as Castle Green, or the Eye of York.
The nineteenth century and later
In 1825, Clifford's Tower and the large house to its north-east were purchased and new prison buildings were constructed, including walls, a gatehouse and an extra prison block. The whole castle area served as a prison from 1835 to 1929. In 1935, all these new buildings were swept away.
English Heritage now owns Clifford's Tower. Recently, commercial interests have sought to introduce retail development to the area surrounding it. Citizens, visitors, academics, environmentalists, local businesspeople and Jewish groups have opposed the development with some success, winning a lengthy and bitter Public Inquiry in 2003.
Description of the castle
The castle of 1069 was originally designed as a motte and bailey fortification along the east bank of the River Ouse. The major campaign of work from 1245 to the 1270s resulted in the crescent shaped bailey area being enclosed by a high stone wall with regularly spaced cylindrical towers. There was a gate on the town side, adjacent to the motte, and another on the opposite side of the bailey, the foundations of which can still be seen, gave access to the open country south of the castle. Historians believe the bailey included two halls, a chapel, a kitchen and a prison.
Clifford's Tower is a keep of unusual design. The structure is a quatrefoil plan, much like a four-leafed clover, and consisted of two stories. A central stone pillar, of which traces remain, supported the first floor. A square turret on the south side between two of the lobes protected the entrance. There are defensive turrets between the other lobes. The tower is believed to be an experiment in improving flanking fire by reducing dead ground visible from the summit of the keep. Historians suspect that the builders of Clifford's Tower based it on a French model, as one can find a nearly identical example to York at Étampes, France. Very few examples of this multilobed type of castle tower exist; one local example is the keep of Pontefract Castle (now badly damaged).
References
- England Heritage: Clifford's Tower. England Heritage, London 1993, ISBN 1-85074-140-9, S. 24 pp.
- Nikolaus Pevsner, and Neave, David: Yorkshire: York and the East Riding. 2nd edition Auflage. Penguin Books, London 1995, ISBN 0-14-071061-2 ( [1972]).
External links
- Clifford's Tower, Lise Hull, 1996
- York Castle Museum
- Castle Area Campaign in the City of York
- Official Clifford's Tower Site
- Clifford's Tower viewed from 6th floor of York's Ryedale building