A towering plan to raise the roof

ENGLISH Heritage is considering putting a roof on Clifford's Tower.

Experts from the heritage body have spent the past year carrying out a feasibility study, the Evening Press has learned. There have been X-ray surveys of the mound on which the ancient castle keep stands, and structural surveys of the tower itself.

Jeremy Reed, English Heritage's recently-installed visitor operations director for northern England, says a roof would allow better use to be made of the interior of the castle - and would give visitors more of an idea of what Clifford's Tower was like when it was built.

There would be downsides, however. If it was roofed in, it might be more difficult for visitors to appreciate the tower's structure. There are also concerns that a roof could make the tower more susceptible to damage from the elements.

English Heritage chiefs will meet next month to discuss the pros and cons. Here, we look at the issues ourselves....

STAND on the walkway around the top of Clifford's Tower and it's possible to appreciate the castle's design.

From up here the shape is almost like a four-leaf clover. The outer wall of the tower is four half-circles or 'lobes'- as though four tall, thin towers had been pushed together to make one fat one.

In Britain, it's unique. Possibly the only tower like it in the world is the Tour de la Guinette - the keep of the former royal castle of Philippe Augustus in the French city of Etampes, which may have been the inspiration for Clifford's Tower.

Jeremy Reed appreciates the insight that being able to look down into the tower from above like this gives visitors.

One of the disadvantages of putting a roof on would be that it might spoil visitors' ability to appreciate the tower's structure.

That wouldn't be the only drawback. If experts tried to restore the tower to something like its original appearance and layout, it could seem very dark and poky to visitors inside.

When it was built in the mid-13th century on the orders of King Henry III, the layout of rooms inside would have been like a "Terry's chocolate orange," Jeremy says - small wedge-shaped rooms meeting in a central core. "They would be like little boxes, and if you had that, visitors walking through the rooms would not be able to appreciate the scale of the building."

There is a more serious worry, too. Ironically, far from protecting the tower against the vagaries of the weather, a roof might make it more susceptible to damage from the elements.

Clifford's Tower has been without a roof for more than 300 years - ever since it was badly damaged in a fire in the 1680s - and has survived the best the weather could throw at it. Putting a roof on could change the internal environment. The waterlogged stones of the tower's walls could dry out, Jeremy says. "And that would make them more porous and more likely to crumble."

With so much apparently stacked against the idea, why even bother to investigate the possibility of putting a roof on at all?

Because, says Jeremy, so much more could be done to improve visitors' understanding of the tower. Roofs have successfully been put on ruined castles before - Rochester Castle in Kent is one, Conisbrough Castle in South Yorkshire another. And with a roof in place - even if it was a flat, lightweight polycarbon one below the level of the outer walls rather than a reconstruction of the medieval original - you could also reconstruct the tower's first floor. That would open up lots of options. Part of the original layout of the tower could be restored, for example, or there could be room for a proper display area.

"We could put artefacts on display and provide people with a far better understanding of the tower than we currently can do, because at the moment we are effectively working outside," Jeremy says.

Looking down from the walls at the empty shell that is the interior of the tower today, it is hard to disagree. A few plaques and a temporary information stand are all that visitors have in the way of information.

English Heritage, who have guardianship of the tower, would clearly like to do more.

They are conscious about the sensitivity of the site, however, and are not about to rush into something that will have the people of York up in arms. Putting a roof on is only one option being considered.

Other ideas which will be discussed by experts who meet next month will include leaving the tower as it is, or setting up a visitor centre somewhere in the Eye of York.

Ideas for making the tower more accessible for those with disabilities may also be considered. A chair-lift up to the tower itself may not be realistic because the mound is too steep - but an interactive TV display at foot of the tower's steps, or even an internet tour that could be taken in the home are all possibilities.

In many ways, next month's meeting will represent only the beginning of the process.

English Heritage experts are unlikely to make up their minds then about what would be the best way forward for the tower. And even if they did, that would only mark the beginning of a full program of consultation.

"I don't want people to think we are going to rush into a decision behind closed doors," Jeremy says. "It will be an internal meeting for us to review what we can or cannot do. Once that is there and we think it is right, we then go out into consultation mode."

That will involve canvassing the views of local authorities, groups with a particular interest in the Eye of York - and anyone else interested.

If, after all that, it were decided a roof was the best way forward, there would still be another bridge to cross. "Even if we say we would like to roof it, it could well be ten years before we've got the funding to do it," Jeremy says.

So don't get too carried away yet.

History of Clifford's Tower

One of the reasons why English Heritage would like to do more with Clifford's Tower is that most people have little idea of what the keep was used for.

It was built probably between 1245 and 1270 on the instructions of King Henry III as part of a much larger castle complex which replaced the older, wooden castle - itself infamous for the burning of York's Jews in 1190.

Contrary to popular belief, the stone keep probably wasn't used primarily as living quarters.

If anything, says Dr Jonathan Clark of the Field Archaeology Specialists unit based at the University of York, it would have been a medieval equivalent of the Bank of England. One of the ground floor rooms was probably used as a treasury by King Henry when he was in the North of England - and there is evidence that another of the rooms may have been a mint.

The roof was destroyed in a fire in the 1680s - and one of the difficulties with replacing it is that no one really knows what it looked like.

The official English Heritage guidebook shows a reconstruction of the tower with a single, conical roof (our artist's impression above is based on that). However, according to Dr Clark, who has been researching the tower's history in conjunction with English Heritage, it is much more likely the original tower would have had four conical roofs, one rising from each 'lobe' of the four leaf clover.

That would have given it the appearance almost of a fairy-tale French castle: but is unlikely to be adopted as a modern solution to roofing the tower.

Other English Heritage projects in our region

CLIFFORD'S Tower is one of 116 monuments in the North of England looked after by English Heritage.

As the organisation's newly-appointed visitor operations director for the northern region, it is Jeremy Reed's job to manage public access.

The former hotel industry executive, who joined English Heritage five years ago after giving up a high-flying career which saw him working with large hotel chains in London and California, has already set himself a number of priorities for the next year.

These include refurbishing the historic master gunner's house at Scarborough Castle, and upgrading the museum at Byland Abbey near Coxwold.

At Scarborough, the master gunners house, built in about 1745, is being opened up to the public for the first time. It will be used to house displays illustrating the castle's remarkable 3,000 years of history - from a Bronze Age settlement to a secret early listening station established during the cold war.

Byland Abbey has the largest collection of medieval floor tiles in Europe. It was also, in its day, famed for the expertise of its monks in creating waterways and sewer systems.

Upgrading exhibits in the abbey's museum will make it possible to re-present the abbey's history.

"We have more to tell about the water works, the tiles, and the life of the monks of Byland," says Jeremy.

Updated: 09:03 Wednesday, February 02, 2005