ONE of the city’s oldest recognisable landmarks has won an award which 'recognises outstanding architecture, planning and design' across domestic and international projects.
Clifford’s Tower won a Civic Trust Award on March 22, praising its ‘positive contribution to the city’.
Over 320 projects were entered from across the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and USA.
Re-opened two years ago after a £5m refurbishment, the Scheduled Ancient Monument has added a free-standing structure inside, a new roof deck and rooms have been revealed for the first time since a fire in 1684.
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York Central MP Rachael Maskell visited along with bosses from English Heritage to mark the award and English Tourism week, which ran from March 15 to March 24.
Ms Maskell said since its re-opening, the monument has retold its history in a new way, with recorded voices and information to help orientate visitors through its past.
Rachael Maskell said: “Clifford’s Tower, now so carefully preserved, will continue to tell the story of how it served as a keep in the castle to royal mint and part of the prison while also marking the terrible history of the massacre of York’s Jewish community on March 16, 1190.
“I am so grateful to English Heritage reworking its design after residents’ pressure to maintain the original look of the motte.
“Sadly, there has been no resolve found as to how to make the tower fully accessible, a challenge when dealing with heritage architecture, however the breaks in the steps to the top enable greater access than was previously available.”
Andrea Selley, English Heritage territory director, said: “The iconic tower is going from strength to strength.
“Last year we welcomed a record number of visitors while only last week, our project to conserve and re-present the tower won a Civic Trust Award, recognising its positive contribution to the city.
“The judges described the tower as a ‘cherished landmark’ for locals and we couldn’t agree more.
“We recently worked with the Jewish community to mark the anniversary of the 1190 massacre of the York’s Jewish population while at the start of this year we welcomed over 3,000 local people through the tower’s gates as part of the York Residents Festival.”
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