THE CASTLES OF YORK

Yorkshire

There is pretty much no doubt at all that York is the most beautiful and well preserved City in the whole of England.  It is famed for its elaborate City Walls, the huge and graceful York Minster and its maze of winding medieval streets.

Less famous are its two Castles; one - known as Baile Hill - is little more than a  motte; the other - known as Clifford's Tower (pictured above) is a large motte crowned with a unique "clover leaf" shell keep.

The first Castle, Baile Hill, was raised by William the Conqueror by the River Ouse on his arrival in 1068; a year later the second was built on the opposite bank of the River.  Only a few months later a Danish fleet sailed up the Humber, and then to York where they destroyed both Castles. Both Castles were soon rebuilt, although Clifford's Tower (then still built in wood) was always the most important of the two.

The most notorious occurence at York Castle occurred before the defences had been rebuilt in stone.  In 1190 York's prosperous Jewish community, fearing a pogrom, shut themselves inside the keep.  A siege was laid, but rather than come out to face the mob the Jews set fire to the tower and themselves.  The keep was rebuilt and the motte heightened, but in 1228 this second keep blew down in a storm.

In the reign of Henry III a complete rebuild of York's defences was undertaken, including Clifford's Tower which became a large Castle.  The curtain walls and gatehouse have long since gone, but the shell keep; built to its unusual quatrefoil plan; still remains.  It didn't get its name of Clifford's Tower until after the Battle of Boroughbridge (1322) when the mangled corpse of Roger Clifford was hung outside the keep.

By this time Baile Hill had become the responsibility of the Archbishops of York, and during excavations traces were found of a square building which may have been a keep or part of the City Walls which Baile Hill butts up against.  The Archbishops kept the Castle in good condition until the 14th century.

By the mid-medieval period York's Castles had become just a small part of the vast fortification system, and as such they are seldom mentioned specifically.  York was besieged on numerous occasions; most famously in 1644 after the Battle of Marston Moor.  Surprisingly the victorious Sir Thomas Fairfax did not destroy the City and it is largely thanks to him that we have been left with such a well-preserved medieval jewel of a City.  The City was regarrisoned during the Jacobite Rebellions.

All in all, Clifford's Tower and Baile Hill are relatively small diversions in a City as full of wonders as York; but the former is certainly worth a visit - if nothing else for the exhausting clamber up the steps!

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© Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions, Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
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2001