The Anglian Tower is the lower portion of an

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...

tower on the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with to ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

in the English county of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

. It is located on the south-west (interior) face of the city walls, currently in the grounds of York City Library and accessible on foot both from there and the

Museum Gardens The York Museum Gardens are botanic gardens in the centre of York, England, beside the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse. They cover an area of of the former grounds of St Mary's Abbey, York, St Mary's Abbey, and were created in the 1830s by th ...

Discovery

The Anglian tower was first discovered by workmen making a tunnel from

St Leonard's Place St Leonard's Place is a street in York, England. History The site street lay mostly within the walls of Roman Eboracum, and two Anglo-Saxon carved stones and St Leonard's Place hoard, a large coin hoard have been discovered in excavations in t ...

to Mint Yard in 1839. It was probably located again in 1934 by the City Engineer. Limited excavation was undertaken in 1969, above the modern street level and confined between the medieval town wall and the stable, only an area by being exposed. The location of the tower places it between the conjectural locations of two

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

interval towers on the south-west side of the Roman fortress.

Function

There is no secular parallel for this tower in Britain, nor in Europe. It could not be directly dated, and originally proposed dates for its construction are the mid-7th century or mid-9th century.English Heritage Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England, North Yorkshire, (May 1987) Part 32 More recent, assessments, however, have queried this dating on the basis of the lack of re-used stone to construct the tower, which was built out of newly-quarried limestone. Moreover, assessments of the tooling and architectural details of the tower have been argued elsewhere to suggest a fourth or fifth-century date, which would make the wall late Roman rather than Anglian.Patrick Ottaway, Roman York, 142–3 The function of the tower is also problematic. Two doorways at the base were designed to allow a sentry to walk through behind the stump of the Roman fortress wall, and there is no evidence to suggest that the tower chamber had any function other than to allow free access along the walls. The form and function of the upper part of the tower cannot be known. It may have served as a

watchtower A watchtower or guardtower (also spelt watch tower, guard tower) is a type of military/paramilitary or policiary tower used for guarding an area. Sometimes fortified, and armed with heavy weaponry, especially historically, the structures are ...

, a platform for

archers Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

, but there is no surviving evidence to substantiate any of these. The position of the tower might imply the existence of others.English Heritage Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England, North Yorkshire, (May 1987) Part 32

Visible remains

It is a small square tower, built of stone with arched doorways and tunnel-vaulted. The remains stand to a height of over three metres, abutting up against the later

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

City Wall. A descriptive plaque on the Tower stated: :This building is the lower storey of a tower built into a breach in the 4th-century Roman fortress wall perhaps in the reign of King

Edwin The name Edwin means "wealth-friend". It comes from (wealth, good fortune) and (friend). Thus the Old English form is Ēadwine, a name widely attested in early medieval England. Edwina is the feminine form of the name. Notable people and char ...

(616–632 AD). It was hidden under the Danish and later ramparts and rediscovered in 1839. A second plaque commemorated the death of archaeologist

Jeffrey Radley Jeffrey Radley (13 October 1935 – 22 July 1970) was a British archaeologist and poet. Career Radley was an archaeologist, particularly interested in Prehistoric archaeology. He was also a poet, having a collection of poems published posthu ...

in 1970: :This plaque is erected to the memory of Jeffrey Radley M.A. F.S.A. who carried out the excavation of the tower and was tragically killed in a subsequent accident at the site on July 22nd 1970.

References

Bibliography

*Barbara Wilson and Frances Mee, ''The City Walls and Castles of York: The Pictorial Evidence'', York Archaeological Trust, 2005. {{ISBN, 978-1-874454-36-6. *Buckland, P. C. 1984. 'The 'Anglian Tower' and the use of Jurassic limestone in York' in Addyman, P. V. & Black, V. E. (eds), ''Archaeological papers from York presented to M W Barley'', York: York Archaeological Trust. pp. 51–57. *Patrick Ottaway, ''Roman York'', Stroud: Tempus, 2004.

External links