Clifford's Tower

With sweeping views of York and the surrounding countryside, it isn't hard to see why Clifford's Tower played such a crucial role in the control of northern England. The tower has a turbulent history, surviving 1,000 years of flood, fire and siege. Its origins were violent: William the Conqueror built the castle for his northern campaign of terror in 1069. At various points in its history, Clifford’s Tower became a royal mint, functioned as a prison, gruesomely displayed the bodies of leaders of uprisings, and was even a court. Make it a full day out and take a short trip to York’s Cold War Bunker, built in the 1960s to monitor nuclear fall-out.