York Historic Environment Record

Excavation at Tofts Tower to allow the City Engineer to gauge the scale of structural problems at the tower in Oct-Nov 1985. Tower 13 is irregular in plan, containing a rectangular chamber walled and vaulted in post-med brick. The original tower was demolished after taking direct hit during the Civil War. The earliest structure recovered survived as a 3,4m length of wall with a rubble and mortar core faced with Mag limestone. Its position shows that the present rear wall of the tower does not follow the original line. No dating evidence was found.This wall was cut into a clay rampart. A second phase of the tower was identified as the west, south and part of the east walls. The interal walls are brick, the rear wall of brick was faced with ashlar. No evidence of roof form survived. Possibly 17-18th century. The tower in its present form came in Phase 3 (c.1840) when the roof, north wall and part of the east wall of the earlier tower were demolished and a cut made to insert new wall footings. The cut was excavated in 1985 to 2m in depth before it became unsafe. All earlier floor levels had been removed during this Victorian phase.