Clifford's Tower

Clifford's Tower forms one of my earliest memories of York. I must have visited as quite a small child, with my family, and I remember climbing all the steps up the mound and then up to the top of its walls. Somehow the memory conflates with eating my first ever peach too, bought for me by my grandmother from a market stall... though that may be a trick of my mind. 

Anyway, it is still there (the tower, not the peach - nor my grandmother, for that matter!) It was all cordoned off and out of bounds, as English Heritage have been carrying out repairs and significant restoration, completed now I think. The daffodils all around the mound were in full flower, and rather attractive, trying to make up perhaps for the proliferation of very unattractive wire fencing, concrete mixers and other building paraphernalia at its base, which I carefully screened out of my photo. 

And what is it, you may ask? Well, it was the central keep of York Castle, one of the great fortresses of medieval England. The mound, topped by a wooden structure (a motte and bailey castle), was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 when he took York from the Vikings. Henry III had the stone keep built in the 1250s. It's had quite an exciting history. It was used as a jail, and became the centre of the Royalist defence of York during the Civil War in 1644.  Much of it was destroyed in an explosion in 1684 but after repair it was again used as a prison. See HERE for details. 

And no, I'm not entirely sure who Clifford was!