CORNER OF YORKSHIRE

The Red Tower, York

A conspicuous oddity in the 2.10 miles of walls which surround the centre of York is this medieval structure north of Walmgate Bar. It is the only brick tower in the city.

Defensive walls and towers were first built by the Romans around 71AD, when they erected a fort above the River Ouse. Following the end of the Roman occupation, the Danes demolished the towers but kept the walls. Today’s walls and stone towers date from the 13th and 14th century. The Red Tower is shorter than other towers in the walls, being just 16.5 feet high excluding the roof, but when built in 1490 it was almost twice that height.

Its purpose was to act as a watchtower over what was considered to be an area vulnerable to attack, the King’s Fishpool, a lake formed by damming the River Foss. Part of a series of improvements to the city walls carried out by Henry VII, red bricks were used in its construction because they were cheaper than stone. This pitched York’s stone masons’ guild into a serious demarcation feud with the tilers’ guild, the latter being threatened by the masons for taking on what they thought should be their work.

It was damaged by cannon fire in the Siege of York between April 22 and July 1 1644, during the first English Civil War. Repairs took three years, but over the next century it became dilapidated. When finally restored in the early 1800s it served as stables and a gunpowder store, which led to it being known as the Brimstone Tower. Now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building, it is community hub, Red Tower York.