The Water Tower (aka Marygate Landing Tower) was built beside the River Ouse circa 1320 - 1324 during works to strengthen the defences of St Mary's Abbey.

The walls of the tower are built from Magnesian Limestone. The exterior is circular in plan, but the interior is hexagonal. There is a single opening in the approximate centre of each hexagonal face. Four of these openings take the form of a cruciform arrow slit. A fifth is a simple rectangular slit, while the sixth (beside the Esplanade) is a doorway (originally at first floor level) that once opened onto a wall-top walkway.

Image 1

Photo as per caption. Opens larger version.
The Water Tower (part of the defences of St Mary's Abbey) with the acess arch for the Esplanade to the left and boats on the River Ouse to the right.

Image 2

Photo as per caption. Opens larger version.
The tower as seen from the opposite bank of the River Ouse. Note the discolouration at the base of the tower (caused by regular immersion in muddy flood water) and the two water spouts at the top (indicating the position of the roof-level defensive walkway).

Image 3

Photo as per caption. Opens larger version.
The tower immersed up to first floor level by the River Ouse. Compare this view with Image 2. Floods like this are a regular occurrence in York. The Marygate Landing flood gate has been closed to protect the houses beyond.

Image 4

Photo as per caption. Opens larger version.
This photograph of the hexagonal interior was taken from the Esplanade. The rebated arrow slit (centre) faces the River Ouse. The change in thickness of the wall (bottom) would have supported the timber joists for the first floor.

Image 5

Photo as per caption. Opens larger version.
An artist's impression of the Water Tower and the adjacent section of the River Ouse circa 1647-1728. Note the level of the water relative to the arrow slits. When this image was created, the river was still tidal (Naburn Lock was not constructed until 1757).
©The Trustees of the British Museum (asset no. 1066040001 - see footnote 1).

The tower was originally much taller than it appears today (compare Images 1 & 2 with Image 5). When first built, it was two storeys high and had crenellations running all the way round the top. A narrow parapet provided a walkway between the crenellations and the roof (which was probably conical). However, the roof collapsed (or was removed) sometime before 1700. The crenellations and upper courses of stonework were removed (or collapsed) sometime between 1700 and 1827. The base of the tower was partially buried during the first half of the 19th century (circa 1836-1842), when the adjacent land surface was raised to create the Esplanade and the associated access arch. A quick glance through the doorway opening beside the Esplanade will confirm that the modern-day land surface has been raised to approximately the level of the tower's first floor (see Image 4).

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 cropped (to focus on the riverside area), the colour temperature and contrast / levels were adjusted and the image was 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/