Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 43–now
At Tower Street, beneath Clifford's Tower, York Castle has stood since William the Conqueror raised a timber mound in 1068. Rebuilt in stone for Henry III, besieged, exploded, and turned to a prison, the site carries memory from Roman road to Viking hoard to modern street.
The short answer
Clifford's Tower in York is the stone keep of York Castle, built for Henry III between 1245 and 1272 on a mound first raised by William the Conqueror in 1068. In March 1190, around 150 members of York's Jewish community died inside an earlier timber tower here during a mob siege.
York - On Clifford's Tower - View to Fairfax House The Minster — 1986 · Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0
1068 to 1190
A mob's siege ended in mass death at York Castle
Clifford's Tower is the ruined keep of York Castle, a stone tower now run by English Heritage. William the Conqueror built the first fortress here in 1068, a timber motte-and-bailey raised to control the conquered city of Jórvík. It was quick and crude, a mound of earth topped with wood.
The timber keep became the scene of one of the worst days in English history. In March 1190, a mob besieged York's Jewish community inside it. Trapped and facing forced baptism or death, around 150 people chose to die by their own hand rather than surrender. Richard Malebisse, a local nobleman deep in debt to Jewish moneylenders, had stirred up the crowd outside. The timber tower burned as they died inside it. A plaque at the base of the mound, placed in 1978, carries Hebrew words tied to that final night.
1228 to 1272
Henry III raised a clover-shaped keep on the mound
A gale destroyed the rebuilt wooden tower in 1228. Decades later, King Henry III ordered a new keep built in stone, raised between 1245 and 1272 on the same mound. Its four-lobed, clover-shaped design has no equal among English castles. Historians credit the design to a mason called Henry of Reyns, who also worked on Westminster Abbey. Locals later mocked its shape, calling it "the Minced Pie."
The tower took its name from Roger de Clifford, a rebel lord hanged here in 1322 for opposing King Edward II. Roger de Clifford's body hung on a gibbet at the castle as a warning. The name Clifford's Tower was first written down in 1596, more than two centuries after his death.
1537
Robert Aske hanged in chains outside the tower
In 1537, Robert Aske was hanged in chains on a scaffold outside the keep. Aske had led the Pilgrimage of Grace, a Catholic uprising against King Henry VIII's break with Rome. Robert Aske's body was left hanging as a warning to anyone who might follow him.
1642 to 1684
An indoor salute blew the tower apart in 1684
During the English Civil War, Royalist soldiers held the tower for the king. They rebuilt the forebuilding to strengthen it against attack. In 1644, Parliamentary forces besieged York and damaged the tower during the fighting. York fell, and Parliamentary troops moved in afterward.
The Quaker preacher George Fox was locked inside as a prisoner for two nights in 1665.
Disaster struck on St George's Day, 1684. Soldiers using the tower as an arms store fired a ceremonial salute indoors. The blast and fire gutted the interior completely. The heat was so fierce it turned some of the stone pink, a scar still visible today. The tower stood roofless and empty within fifteen years.
1818 to 1936
The keep became a folly, then a prison yard
By 1818, the tower had become an ornamental folly in the grounds of a nearby house, with parts of it converted into dovecotes. In 1825, a new prison went up around it, and the tower became part of the prison grounds. The prison closed in 1929, and most of its buildings came down by 1935.
1954 to now
Restoration added a rooftop walk above York's skyline
Clifford's Tower was given Grade I listed status in 1954, protecting it as a building of outstanding national importance. Whether the fire that killed those inside was set by the victims themselves, to avoid a worse death, or broke out during the siege itself, remains disputed. Most accounts hold that those trapped set the blaze themselves.
The tower's own name carries a darker memory than most visitors realize. People in York once mocked its four-lobed shape, calling it "the Minced Pie," a nickname still used by soldiers garrisoned there in the 1600s.
Between 2017 and 2022, English Heritage carried out a major restoration. Stonemasons repaired the limestone and conserved carved plaques bearing the coats of arms of King Charles I and the Clifford family. The project added a new roof deck, letting visitors walk above the York skyline from the top of the tower for the first time.
A short walk from the mound, the ground beneath Castlegate still carries older traces. Roman buildings from Eboracum once stood where the street now runs. In 1746, a condemned Jacobite prisoner named John Jellons was being dragged along that same street toward execution when his reprieve arrived at the last moment.
Visitors can now climb to the top of the restored keep and look out over York from its new roof deck.
Read the ground you are standing on
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.
Sourced records, high and medium confidence. Era background is marked as such.
Deep time
The ground under York Castle sits on Triassic sandstone and conglomerate, laid down over 200 million years ago.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Macrostrat
Ancient
Castlegate
Castlegate follows the line of a Roman road that linked the fortress of Eboracum to the River Ouse, and excavations have turned up Roman residential buildings beneath the street.
A mob besieged York's Jewish community inside the timber castle keep, and about 150 people died, most by their own hand, rather than be forced to convert or be killed.
King Henry III had the stone keep built in an unusual four-lobed design, unique among English castles, replacing the timber tower lost to fire and storm.
The rebel nobleman Roger de Clifford was hanged at the castle after opposing Edward II, and his body was displayed on a gibbet here; the keep took his name, first recorded in 1596.
Robert Aske, who had led the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising against Henry VIII, was hanged in chains outside Clifford's Tower on 12 July 1537, his body left on display.
On 23 April 1684 an explosion and fire, likely from a ceremonial salute fired indoors near stored gunpowder, gutted the interior of the tower and left it a roofless shell.
The castle bailey was redeveloped in neoclassical style in the 18th century for county administration, including the Debtor's Prison and Female Prison, now part of York Castle Museum.
From 1802 criminals were hanged on the New Drop between the Assize Courts and the bailey wall, moving inside the prison walls after 1868; a 1998 dig found five graves of executed prisoners nearby.
A small defensive gate in the city walls, the Castlegate Postern, was demolished between 1826 and 1827; its site now lies under the pedestrian crossing in front of the tower.
A mob besieged York's Jewish community inside the timber castle keep, and around 150 people died, most by their own hand, rather than face forced conversion or death. Richard Malebisse, a local nobleman in debt to Jewish moneylenders, had stirred up the crowd, and the tower burned as they died inside it.
What was here before the stone keep?
A timber motte-and-bailey fortress stood on the mound, built by William the Conqueror in 1068 to control the conquered city of Jórvík. That wooden tower was destroyed in the 1190 siege and again by a gale in 1228 before Henry III ordered a stone keep built.
Why is it called Clifford's Tower?
It took its name from Roger de Clifford, a rebel lord hanged at the castle in 1322 for opposing King Edward II, whose body was displayed on a gibbet there. The name Clifford's Tower was first written down in 1596.
What caused the fire in 1684?
Soldiers using the tower as an arms store fired a ceremonial salute indoors on St George's Day, 1684, and the blast and fire gutted the interior completely. The heat turned some of the stone pink, a scar still visible, and the tower stood roofless within fifteen years.
Who else was imprisoned or executed at the tower?
Robert Aske, leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising against Henry VIII, was hanged in chains outside the keep in 1537. The Quaker preacher George Fox was held prisoner inside for two nights in 1665.
What is the tower's design known for?
Its four-lobed, clover-shaped design, credited to the mason Henry of Reyns who also worked on Westminster Abbey, has no equal among English castles. Locals later mocked its shape, nicknaming it 'the Minced Pie.'
