Introduction

In strategic terms, for the defence of the south side of the city, the lower tower provided cover to the approach to Conisford Gate on King Street, nearly 60 metres away from the tower and some 8 metres lower down the slope of Carrow Hill. The tower was positioned on an angle of the wall. Loops on both levels of the tower, provided sight lines and enabled defending troops to fire along the outer side of the wall both to the north, back towards the Black Tower, and to the east down the outer face of the wall running down to Conisford Gate.

The lower tower is 48 metres away from the Black Tower and over 15 metres below it, so the wall between the towers drops steeply. [1] The wall also curves inwards, again to maximise the protection afforded by covering fire from the towers. The slope was too steep for arches to be constructed though there was probably a narrow wall walk and an outer parapet as elsewhere. As the wall was only 1.5 metres thick, the walk was at most 1.2 metres wide. There are now 17 high steps along the top of the wall between the towers though these appear to be modern repairs and as the top of the wall has broken away in many places, it is difficult to see if there were shallower steps that have gone. There are no doorways onto the wall walk from either tower so access must have been by ladder from the inner side.

Brick lined putlog holes for the original scaffold survive and there are squat loops with wide brick-lined embrasures at widely spaced intervals. As the wall is built along a ridge, the land drops away very sharply on both sides and presumably an attack on this section from the south would have been considered unlikely.

There is no evidence that there were ever buildings against the walls, as elsewhere, presumably because of the steep slope. The wall face should retain more original flint work and mortar as it did not suffer the alterations and damage caused caused to other sections when 18th and 19th century buildings constructed against the walls were subsequently demolished. There is just one doorway below the Black Tower that was inserted but is now blocked. This must be associated with the 18th and 19th-century use of the steep slope inside the wall as a pleasure ground open to the public. There are newspaper accounts of balloon accents from here though the terrain would seem to make such activities doubly dangerous.

The tower has an outer diameter of 6.3 metres and thick walls that reduce the width of the lower chamber to just 3.3 metres. The steep slope means that there is a massive drop in the ground level of almost 7 metres from the west to the lower east side. It is likely that a platform for the solid base of the tower was cut into the hillside as there is no evidence of movement. The putlog holes in the base are not lined with brick which might suggest that the scaffold poles remained until the tower was completed and were then cut away. Elsewhere the brick-lined holes meant that the timbers could be slipped out and moved up to the next level as work progressed.

The entrance door on the west side survives with an arched head and the remains of a hood moulding all in brick and though this is simple and damaged, and therefore difficult to date, this must be a primary feature. Inside the tower there is no evidence for a vault at either level. A set back in the wall suggests that the floor of the upper chamber was timber. Nor is there evidence for either an external stair turret as at the Black Tower or an internal staircase as at the east Boom Tower so the upper chamber and the roof walk, if there was one, would have been reached by internal ladders. This tower has no fireplaces.

The wall continued east of the tower, running down to King Street. [see report 34] The first 10 metres of the wall that abutted the tower have been lost but there is a scar of the wall and its parapet on the outer side of the wall of the tower on the east side. This short section of the wall fell or was demolished after 1910.

Generally the wall is in good condition though the ground level on the inner side has been lowered, exposing the footings of the wall and making them vulnerable to weathering. Trees planted to consolidate the slope along with dense undergrowth hides much of the wall and blocks views out to the river and across the city. Along with the Black Tower this is a major medieval monument that needs to be integrated somehow into the city.