The keep of the former York Castle, which was originally surrounded by water by the river and a moat.

This present building dates from the 13th century though the first castle was built two hundred years earlier.

Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, William the Conquerer began a campaign to dominate the north of the country. Having cleared all the houses in this part of Viking York, in 1068 he built a wooden castle here, strategically located between York's two rivers, the Ouse and the Foss.

This first building was soon destroyed in an anti-Norman rebellion, however.

The rebuilt wooden keep burned down again in the twelfth century: In 1190 it was the site of a bloody pogrom, when the Jews of the city fled and were besieged in it. Faced with being murdered by the mob, many took their own lives. There was said to be a Jewish curse (Cherem) placed on the city, not lifted before a ceremony in 1990, the 800th anniversary of the event. (See the plaque below the steps.)