The walls alongside Baille Hill

The tall southern corner tower has been curiously called "Bitchdaughter Tower" since 1452 or earlier. It may have originally been part of the "Castle of the old Baille", York's almost hidden second castle. "The Old Baille" was smaller than York Castle but was built at the same time by order of William the Conqueror himself. Baillie Hill is a typical Norman defensive mound or "motte" just like the one across the river underneath Clifford's tower. Unlike Clifford's Tower a stone citadel was never constructed here but archaeologists have found evidence that a wooden tower once stood on top of Baillie Hill.

To continue the trail you need to cross Skeldergate Bridge. Take the steps from the bridge down to Tower Street Gardens.

Can you see where the walls, now almost buried, once went right down to the river bank?