York's walls resume with the Red Tower just beyond the River Foss swamp. In 1490, the tower was rebuilt of brick after a rebellion against Henry VII, the Tudor who ended the War of the Roses by defeating York's favorite, Richard III.
Controversy has long dogged this place: local masons resented the tilers who built the tower; as revenge, they killed the master tiler by emasculation, as bad of a balling out as you can have. The masons avoided conviction for the crime by hiding in the Minster area. A century-and-a-half later, the Parliamentarians severely damaged the fort during the English Civil War as they attempted to defeat the York Royalists.
Water nearly surrounded the building until the Foss swamp was drained in the 1850s; the building sank five feet after that.
Lost? If so, click here for a good map of the York Walls (in PDF format)
For more narrative on York, see our description web page by clicking here.
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