![]() ![]() Clifford's Tower was treated as a garden folly and possibly as a stable or cattle shed. The 18th century was a period of changing ownership for the tower and mound. īy 1699, however, when Clifford's Tower was released to freeholders, sketches of the interior by Francis Place show that it was completely roofless. Destruction was not total, though, and parts of the building remained in use for storage, while cannon were still positioned on the roof. On 23 April 1684 the interior was partly gutted by fire, allegedly as a result of the firing of a ceremonial salute for St George's Day. The garrison's dissolute behaviour caused discontent among the citizens of York, who called for the demolition of the tower, scathingly nicknamed 'the Minced Pie'. The Quaker George Fox was imprisoned here for two nights in 1665, on his way to Scarborough Castle. The tower continued to be occupied by a garrison of between 40 and 80 men and it may also have served occasionally as a prison. ![]() The city fell to Parliamentarians the following year. The forebuilding was largely reconstructed. The building was re-roofed and re-floored, apparently at the behest of Queen Henrietta Maria, creating storage rooms for ammunition and a gun platform on the roof. Īfter a brief period when Clifford's Tower passed out of royal ownership, in 1643 it was occupied again by a royal garrison during the Civil War. ![]() Alternatively, it may refer to the rebel Roger de Clifford, who was executed after the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 and whose body was displayed on a gibbet at the castle. The name is sometimes interpreted as evidence that the Clifford family claimed the post of constable to be hereditary. Contemporary correspondence about these events contains the first recorded use of the name 'Clifford's Tower'. In 1596–7 a public scandal arose when the aldermen of York accused the gaoler, Robert Redhead, of trying to demolish the derelict tower and sell the stone for lime-burning. In 1540, just three years after Robert Aske (one of the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace) had been hanged 'on the height of the castle dungeon', John Leland wrote that the 'arx is all in ruin'. Accounts of Henry VI, Richard III and Henry VIII suggest that several buildings were ruinous, and efforts were concentrated on maintaining a small number of them as gaols. ![]() The history of the castle and Clifford's Tower during the 15th and 16th centuries is obscure. Read more about the Massacre at Clifford’s Tower This time their exile lasted until the 17th century. Though Jewish life did in fact revive in York within a few years of the massacre, it came to an end a hundred years later, in 1290, when Edward I expelled all Jews from England. A plaque at the base of the mound, commemorating these events, was installed in 1978. Heads of households killed their own families before killing themselves, and the wooden tower itself was set on fire.Īccording to several accounts a number of Jews did survive and came out of the tower under an amnesty, only to be murdered by the attackers. On 16 March, the eve of the Sabbath before Passover, when the Jews realised that there would be no safe way out for them, a rabbi urged his fellow-inmates in the tower to commit suicide rather than fall into the hands of their persecutors. These troops were joined by a large mob, which soon ran out of control, incited by both anti-Jewish preachers and local gentry eager to escape their debts. The officials, finding themselves shut out from the tower, summoned reinforcements to recapture it. Somehow, though, trust between the royal officials and the Jews broke down. In York, as described by William of Newburgh and other contemporary chroniclers, about 150 people from the Jewish community were given protective custody in the royal castle, probably the site of Clifford's Tower. ![]()
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