This is part of an extensive programme of investigations being carried out by English Heritage, as part of a long-term conservation project to understand the development and make-up of Clifford's Tower.

The three excavations, which will be carried out in sequence, will allow us to examine a feature that was last visible in 1935 - a circular wall of large millstone grit blocks, built around 1830, when Clifford’s Tower was enclosed within the newly enlarged Yorkshire County Gaol. The wall was needed to hold the earth of the surviving central part of the mound and the tower itself. In 1935, when the Gaol was demolished, the Office of Works reinstated the lower slopes of the mound, re-creating its ‘medieval’ shape, burying the wall in the process. English Heritage believe that rubble from the demolished 19th-century prison buildings was used to re-make the slopes: it was during the same restoration that the present flight of 55 steps was added, running straight up the slope to the entrance doorway, as their medieval and 17th-century predecessors had done.

The excavations will enable archaeologists’ to establish the condition of the wall, how deep the foundations are, and whether it is giving effective support to the mound and to Clifford’s Tower.

The excavations will touch parts of the mound that have been planted with daffodils, of the type ‘February Gold’ (Narcissus cyclamineus). These were planted by servicemen and York schoolchildren in 1992 in commemoration of the massacre of the Jewish community in March 1190. The works have been timed to avoid the flowering season to ensure that these significant plants are not damaged. At the beginning of the excavations, staff will carefully remove the turf and take up the bulbs in these areas, keeping them protected, and re-plant them as soon the ground is reinstated in each area. The daffodils are an important part of the history and current beauty of Clifford’s Tower and the works will ensure the organisations commitment to preserve them wherever possible and to reinstate the full spring coverage of the iconic mound once the work has been completed.

Dr Jeremy Ashbee, Head Historic Properties Curator at English Heritage and who is overseeing the project said:

“This excavation is an important milestone in the work that we are doing and we are working with conservators and archaeologists’ to take this work on as sympathetically as possible. We need to look at the wall in order to know whether it is in good condition, how deep its foundations are, and whether it is giving effective support to the mound and to Clifford’s Tower. We will examine it in three places, because records of the 19th and early 20th centuries suggest that parts of it were rebuilt or conserved: its condition may vary around the circuit. Because the lower parts of the mound were re-created in 1935, we think it very unlikely that we will discover any archaeological material older than the 19th century”.

Notes to editors

For more information or images contact:
Kate Maughan-Brown, PR Manager – North
07920 181 666 / 01904 601 884
kate.maughan-brown@english-heritage.org.uk

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