Fishergate Postern Tower was built on the eastern bank of the River Foss in circa 1505 to defend the adjacent postern and the nearby dam across the River Foss.

Image 1

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Fishergate Postern Tower from the southwest, with the Piccadilly side of Fishergate Postern partially visible beyond the daffodils.

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A better view of the west elevation. Note the glazed arrow slits in the west wall and stairwell. The adjacent Postern (bottom-centre) is one of the access points for the southeastern section of York's city walls.

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The east (left) and north elevations. Note the garderobe protruding from the first floor (extreme right). This simple toilet discharged straight into the dammed-up River Foss.

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The roof of the tower, as seen from the wall-walk to the south. Note the window: the top of the tower was originally constructed with a crenellated parapet and this was one of the battlement embrasures.

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The interior of the main living room on the first floor, including the garderobe doorway (centre) and the blocked-up fireplace.

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The interior of the roof room. Note the thin parapet walls; the battlement embrasures that have been converted into windows; the brick-built chimney stack; and the strong timber framework springing from the full-thickness walls to support the tiled roof.

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One of the doorways leading to the narrow spiral (newel-supported) stone staircase.

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A close-up of the garderobe (exterior view, with interior view inset). Note the small side window, which provdes natural illumination during daylight hours.

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An artist's impression of Fishergate Postern Tower (left) and the adjacent section of the River Foss, published by William Lodge in 1678. The following are also partially visible: the South Gate of York Castle and Clifford's Tower (immediately to the left and right of Fishergate Postern Tower respectively); the spire of St Mary's Church, Castlegate; and York Minster.
©The Trustees of the British Museum (asset no. 115145001 - see footnote 1).

External Links

For more information about the tower, see the pdf leaflet entitled "A Brief History of Fishergate and the Postern Tower", which can be viewed at / downloaded via the following external link: https://www.yorkwalls.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/A-History-of-Fishergate-Postern-Tower-and-its-Environs.pdf

Footnotes

[1] This image is a 'derived work' based on a digital image file downloaded from the British Museum's online catalogue, which can be accessed via the following external link:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection
To create the version used on the York Illustrated website, the original image was trimmed, converted to greyscale and resized. The original image and this version are both © The Trustees of the British Museum and both are subject to the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license - see:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/