Model of the Castle Area

Visited 19 March 2006

Below is a model of the Castle and Clifford Tower as it looked in probably in the 13th when stone finally replaced the wood walls that had burnt or blown down several times before.  Two centuries earlier, William the Conqueror started it all by building two castles of wood in his successful (eventually) attempts to bridle the cantankerous Yorkers.  He then diverted the Foss river to create moats.  (This subjected the area to flooding, including drowning a few prisoners in the basement dungeons of the castle; perhaps this was the invention of water torture?)  Today most of the water is gone, but remnants of the castle wall at the bottom of the picture can be seen in the next picture.

At the top of the picture is Clifford's tower with roof intact.  Although today it's the only castle building still standing, we'll see it in a lot worse shape a few pictures down this photo chain.  As you can see here, the castle area is of motte-and-bailey construction: a ditch was dug around an area and the resulting dirt piled in the middle to form the motte.  The motte was literally the last ditch effort to defend the area as the valuable people would retreat to it if the castle area was overcome by the enemy.  The bailey was the fenced courtyard below the motte in the picture.  Because they could be built quickly, the Normans built many motte-and-bailey castles in in England in the 11th century as they attempted to quickly consolidate their power.  Sometimes in less than 10 days, they'd throw up wooden palisades; later generations would replace these with stone funded and built by the now-subdued population. 

After 1190, York's castle was no longer attacked and served as administrative areas, courts, and prisons.

Lost? If so, click here for a good map of the York Walls (in PDF format)

For more narrative on York, see our description web page by clicking here.