York Castle
York Castle is a fortified complex in the city of York, England. It consists of a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings, which were built over the last nine centuries on the north-west side of the River Foss. The now ruined keep of the medieval Norman castle is commonly referred to as Clifford's Tower. Built originally on the orders of William I to dominate the former Viking city of Jórvík, the castle suffered a tumultuous early history before developing into a major fortification with extensive water defences. After a major explosion in 1684 rendered the remaining military defences uninhabitable, York Castle continued to be used as a jail and prison until 1929.
The first motte and bailey castle on the site was built in 1068 following the Norman conquest of York. After the destruction of the castle by rebels and a Viking army in 1069, York Castle was rebuilt and reinforced with extensive water defences, including a moat and an artificial lake. York Castle formed an important royal fortification in the north of England. In 1190, 150 local Jews died in the timber castle keep; most of them committed suicide in order not to fall into the hands of the mob. In the middle of the 13th century, Henry III rebuilt the castle in stone creating a keep with a unique quatrefoil design, supported by an outer bailey wall and a substantial gatehouse. During the Scottish wars between 1298 and 1338, York Castle was frequently used as the centre of royal administration across England, as well as an important military base of operations. York Castle fell into disrepair by the 15th and 16th centuries, becoming used increasingly as a jail for both local felons and political prisoners. By the time of Elizabeth I the castle was estimated to have lost all of its military value but was maintained as a centre of royal authority in York.
The outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 saw York Castle being repaired and refortified, playing a part in the Royalist defence of York in 1644 against Parliamentary forces. York Castle continued to be garrisoned until 1684, when an explosion destroyed the interior of Clifford's Tower. The castle bailey was redeveloped in a neoclassical style in the 18th century as a centre for county administration in Yorkshire, and was used as a jail and debtors' prison. Prison reform in the 19th century led to the creation of a new prison built in a Tudor Gothic style on the castle site in 1825; used first as a county and then as a military prison, this facility was demolished in 1935. By the 20th century the ruin of Clifford's Tower had become a well-known tourist destination and national monument; today the site is owned by English Heritage and open to the public. The other remaining buildings serve as the York Castle Museum and the Crown Court.
History
11th century
York was a Viking capital in the 10th century, and continued as an important northern city in the 11th century. In 1068, on William the Conqueror's first northern expedition after the Norman Conquest, he built a number of castles across the north-east of England, including one at York. This first castle at York was a basic wooden motte and bailey castle built between the rivers Ouse and Foss on the site of the present-day York Castle. It was built in haste; contemporary accounts imply it was constructed in only eight days, although this assertion has been challenged. The motte was originally around wide at the base. As it was built in an urban environment, hundreds of houses had to be destroyed to make way for the development. William Malet, the sheriff of Yorkshire, was placed in charge of the castle and successfully defended it against an immediate uprising by the local population.In response to the worsening security situation, William conducted his second northern campaign in 1069. He built another castle in York, on what is now Baile Hill on the west bank of the Ouse opposite the first castle, in an effort to improve his control over the city. This second castle was also a motte and bailey design, with the Baile Hill motte probably reached by a horizontal bridge and steps cut up the side of the motte. Later that year, a Danish Viking fleet sailed up to York along the Humber and the Ouse, and attacked both castles with the assistance of Cospatrick of Northumbria and a number of local rebels. The Normans, attempting to drive the rebels back, set fire to some of the city's houses. The fire grew out of control and also set fire to York Minster and, some argue, the castles as well. The castles were captured and partially dismantled, and Malet was taken hostage by the Danes.
William conducted a widespread sequence of punitive operations across the north of England in the aftermath of the attacks in 1069 and 1070. This "Harrying of the North" restored sufficient order to allow the rebuilding of the two castles, again in wood. The bailey at York Castle was enlarged slightly in the process; buildings believed to have been inside the bailey at this time include "halls, kitchens, a chapel, barracks, stores, stables, forges workshops". By the time the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, York Castle was also surrounded by a water-filled moat and a large artificial lake called the King's Pool, fed from the river Foss by a dam built for the purpose. More property, including two watermills, had to be destroyed to make way for the water defences. Over time the Baile Hill site was abandoned in favour of the first castle site, leaving only the motte, which still exists.
12th century
visited York Castle four times during his reign. The royal chambers at the time were inside the keep for safety, and Henry paid £15 for repairs to the keep. During his 1175 visit, Henry used the castle as the base for receiving the homage of William the Lion of Scotland.Castle mills were built close by to support the garrison, and the military order of the Knights Templar was granted ownership of the mills in the mid-12th century. The mills proved to be vulnerable to the flooding of the two rivers and had to be repeatedly repaired.Massacre of Jews
In 1190, York Castle was the location of one of the worst pogroms in England during the medieval period. The Normans had introduced the first Jewish communities into England, where some occupied a special economic role as moneylenders, an essential but otherwise banned activity. English Jews were subject to considerable religious prejudice and primarily worked from towns and cities in which there was a local royal castle that could provide them with protection in the event of attacks from the majority Christian population. Royal protection was usually granted as the Norman and Angevin kings had determined that Jewish property and debts owed to Jews ultimately belonged to the crown, reverting to the king on a Jew's death.Richard I was crowned king in 1189 and announced his intention to join the Crusades; this inflamed anti-Jewish sentiment. Rumours began to spread that the king had ordered that the English Jews be attacked. In York, tensions broke out into violence the following year. Richard de Malbis, who owed money to the powerful Jewish merchant Aaron of Lincoln, exploited an accidental house fire to incite a local mob to attack the home and family of a recently deceased Jewish employee of Aaron in York. Josce of York, the leader of the Jewish community, led the local Jewish families into the royal castle, where they took refuge in the wooden keep. The mob surrounded the castle, and when the constable left the castle to discuss the situation, the Jews, fearing the entry of the mob or being handed over to the sheriff, refused to allow him back in. The constable appealed to the sheriff, who called out his own men and laid siege to the keep. The siege continued until 16 March when the Jews' position became untenable. Their religious leader, Rabbi Yomtob, proposed an act of collective suicide to avoid being killed by the mob, and the castle was set on fire to prevent their bodies being mutilated after their deaths. Several Jews perished in the flames but the majority took their own lives rather than give themselves up to the mob. However, a handful of Jews did surrender, promising to convert to Christianity, but they were killed by the angry crowd. Around 150 Jews died in total in the massacre. The keep was rebuilt, again in wood, on the motte, which was raised in height by at a cost of £207.
13th century
used York Castle extensively during his reign, using the keep as his personal quarters, for security. The castle was kept in good repair during that time. During this period, the first records of the use of the castle as a jail appear, with references to prisoners of John's Irish campaigns being held there. By the 13th century there was a well-established system of castle-guards in place, under which lands around York were granted in return for knights and crossbowmen to assist in protecting the castle.Henry III also made extensive use of the castle, but during his visit at Christmas 1228 a gale destroyed the wooden keep on the motte. The keep was apparently not repaired, and a building for the king's use was built in the bailey. In 1244, when the Scots threatened to invade England, King Henry III visited the castle and ordered it to be rebuilt in white limestone, at a cost of about £2,600. The work was carried out between 1245 and 1270, and included the construction of a towered curtain wall, a gatehouse of considerable size with two large towers, two smaller gatehouses, a small watergate, a small gateway into the city, a chapel, and a new stone keep.
Clifford's Tower
The new stone keep, built between 1245 and 1272 for Henry III, was first known as the King's Tower, and later Clifford's Tower. There are two explanations offered for the origin of the later name. It has been cited as evidence that the Clifford family claimed that the post of constable to be hereditary. Others suggest that it refers to Roger Clifford, 2nd Baron Clifford, who was involved in a rebellion against Edward II. He was executed after the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 and his body hung on a gibbet at the castle. The first recorded use of the name "Clifford's Tower" was in 1596 in correspondence about a scandal involving a gaoler who was selling stone from part of the building he had demolished.The keep is of an unusual design. The two-storey tower has a quatrefoil plan with four circular lobes. Each lobe measures across, with walls thick; at its widest, the tower is across. A square gatehouse, wide, protected the entrance on the south side between two of the lobes. There are defensive turrets between the other lobes. Large corbels and a central pier supported the huge weight of stone and the first floor. Loopholes of a design unique to York Castle provided firing points. A chapel was built over the entrance, measuring doubling as a portcullis chamber as at Harlech and Chepstow Castles. The tower is believed to be an experiment in improving flanking fire by making more ground visible from the summit of the keep. Although unique in England, the design of the tower closely resembles that at Étampes in France, and may have influenced the design of the future keep of Pontefract Castle. Henry employed master mason Henry de Rayns and chief carpenter Simon of Northampton for the project, and the cost of the tower accounted for the majority of the overall expenditure on the castle during this period of work.
The new castle needed constant investment to maintain its quality as a military fortification. There was originally a chapel, which had a new lead roof put on it in 1312. Winter floods in 1315–16 damaged the soil at the base of the motte, requiring immediate repairs. Further repairs were carried out in 1360-65, to fix cracks in the masonry. Around 1358–60, the heavy stone keep again suffered from subsidence and the south-eastern lobe cracked from top to bottom. Royal officials recommended that the keep be completely rebuilt, but, instead, the lobe was repaired at a cost of £200.
Edward I gave wide-reaching powers to the sheriff of Yorkshire for enforcing law and order in the city of York, and the sheriffs established their headquarters in Clifford's Tower during his reign.
The keep was neglected through the 15th and 16th centuries, and the upper portion was demolished in 1596 by a gaoler in order to sell the stone. The tower was garrisoned by Royalists in 1642-3, damaged during a siege in 1644 and repaired in 1652. After an explosion in 1684 badly damaged it, the keep was abandoned. By the 18th century it was a feature in a large private estate, until being becoming part of a new prison in 1825. Restoration work was undertaken in 1902-3, 1915, 1920-23 and 1936.