Cliffords Tower

Clifford's Tower is a castle keep constructed between 1245 and 1272 for King Henry III. Portions of the outer walls were later dismantled in 1596-97, and the forebuilding was largely rebuilt in 1642-43. An explosion in 1684 gutted the tower, which was subsequently restored in 1902, 1915, and 1936. The tower is built of rubble stone faced with magnesian limestone ashlar. The roof is lost, and the forebuilding has a hipped tile roof. The plan is quatrefoil-shaped, with a rectangular projecting forebuilding.

The two-storey tower has a battered base, three bartizans, and a full-height, buttressed forebuilding to the south. The forebuilding features a hollow-chamfered, elliptical arched doorway consisting of two orders. A section of the original hoodmould survives to the right of the doorway. The tower’s windows are primarily narrow, chamfered rectangular lights, with one original lancet window surviving in the right return. Above the doorway, a carved panel depicts the Royal Arms of Charles II above the arms of Henry Clifford, 8th Earl of Cumberland. Two corbelled bartizans are lit by narrow slits, and a third features a garderobe tower with a chamfered rectangular light. Slits also light staircases within the tower walls. The lower stage of each tower lobe has two arrow slits with enlarged heads. In the upper stage, openings within the lobes flanking the forebuilding include a pointed and a round-headed chamfered arched opening, which were later blocked to form arrow slits. Elsewhere, openings are chamfered lights with shouldered heads. The remains of embrasures and arrow slits from the original embattled parapet and walkway are still visible. A water spout with a grotesque face projects on the west side.

Inside the forebuilding, a spiral staircase is located in the wall to the left, accessible through a chamfered, shoulder-arched doorway. The inner doorway to the tower is pointed and grooved for a portcullis. The first floor, originally a chapel, retains arcades of four pointed, moulded arches on two adjacent walls. These arches are ornamented with dogtooth moulding and decayed nailhead capitals, along with some moulded waterhold bases. An altered doorway with a chamfered lintel is situated in a wider arch. One original lancet window survives. An aumbry is set within a rebated surround. Spiral staircases are accessed through chamfered, shoulder-arched doorways in the walls flanking the tower arch, connecting to the garderobe tower opposite the forebuilding and to the upper floors of the intermediate bartizans. Arrow slits and shouldered lights are set in embrasures beneath round or pointed arches of voussoirs, some of which have been rebuilt in brick. Two lobes contain hollow-chamfered, segment-arched fireplaces with intact hoods and flues. A stone-lined well is located beneath an iron grille. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.