It should be celebrated as one of England’s most important buildings but even its most fervent cheerleaders would admit that Clifford’s Tower has long been a terrible place to visit.
From the weekend that will no longer be the case, English Heritage hopes, as the covers come off a £5m transformation radically altering the building’s interior.
Clifford’s Tower is all that remains of York Castle, which was the centre of government in the north of England for 500 years, from the middle ages up to the 17th century.
The 800-year-old landmark has a rich, fascinating and at times shocking history. It still dominates the city of York and has glorious views, better even than those from the tower of York Minster – not least because you can see the Minster.
The tower should be a jewel in the crown of English Heritage but was more like a problem, said Jeremy Ashbee, head properties curator. “It wasn’t a good visitor experience” he said. “The visitor numbers were high but the feedback was abysmal and no one ever came back. The people of York didn’t like it and said so.”
Clifford’s Tower has been an empty shell since it was gutted by a mysterious fire in 1684 when it was used as a store for armaments and gunpowder. Visitors reach it by climbing 55 steep steps up a grassy mound. Previously they were greeted by an open courtyard and minimal interpretation.
A stone circular staircase takes people further up to a wall walk that was very narrow, said architect Hugh Broughton. “It has amazing views over York but people found themselves shuffling single-file round it and then back out of the tower. They were somewhat underwhelmed by the quality of their visit.”
The whole Clifford’s Tower experience might have been no more than a 10-15 minute diversion, if that.
Broughton’s answer to the problem of Clifford’s Tower has been to install within it a free-standing timber structure that has elegant aerial walkways. It opens up hidden rooms not seen for 300 years while a new roof deck allows people to properly enjoy the views at their leisure. On the mound staircase, new handrails and resting points have been added.
The idea was to still celebrate the building for what it was: a ruin. “We’re not pretending that we’ve made Clifford’s Tower into a royal palace,” said Broughton.
The stone tower was built in the 13th century for King Henry III, a lover of luxury who was, Ashbee said, “a good man but a bad king”.
Henry loved his creature comforts including one that can – thanks to the revamp – be seen properly for the first time in centuries.
“It is missing only its timber seat,” said conservation architect Martin Ashley of Henry’s impressive garderobe or toilet. “It has even got a little toiletries cupboard. The remarkable thing is that there is a flushing spout because it was an automatic flushing 13th-century lavatory.”
Ashley said the toilet had been sensitively cleaned, with centuries of pollution removed.
There is new interpretation telling the tower’s history including it being the site of one of the worst antisemitic episodes in English history when, in 1190, members of York’s Jewish community took their own lives rather than be killed by the mob.
The “gentle touch” approach to Clifford’s Tower follows an outcry in 2018 over plans – later abandoned – to build a visitors’ centre at the base of the grassy mound.
The project had been an important one, said Ashbee, as Clifford’s Tower deserved to be seen as one of England’s most important buildings. “The tower is one of those places that we can genuinely say is exceptional,” the curator said.
“It is undeniably a place of national as well as regional significance. Some might even argue, a place of international significance. It has an important story, which needs to be told properly.”
