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Object 13. Clifford’s Tower Memorial Plaque

1978

Description:

Clifford’s Tower Memorial Plaque, unveiled Tuesday 31st October, 1978. Raphael Loewe was instrumental in the installation of a memorial plaque at Clifford’s Tower, York. Raphael is in the centre of the photograph. Also present were the Chief Rabbi, the Archbishop of York, the Dean, and the Lord Mayor of York.

Raphael was part of a group from the Jewish Historical Society (JHS) that campaigned over a decade for the installation of a Memorial. He continued his interest in the need for an appropriate permanent memorial at Clifford’s Tower and in the 1990s he became involved in proposed changes to the tower. This included covering the mound in daffodils to act as an annual visual reminder, something which he was initially opposed to.

The Plaque reads:
On the night of Friday 16th March 1190 some 150 Jews and Jewesses of York, having sought protection in the Royal Castle on this site from a mob incited by Richard Malebisse and others chose to die at each other’s hands rather than renounce their faith.

(Isaiah XLII:12 )
ישימו ליהוה כבוד ותהלתו באיים יגידו  
Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands

Credits: Leopold Muller Memorial Library, Raphael Loewe Archive, shelfmark: pending cataloguing