27,500 slimey coins cleaned to help fund Clifford’s Tower upkeep

10:00am Thursday 18th September 2008

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A DECADE’S worth of grime has been cleaned off thousands of coins recovered from a York well during a three-year scrubathon to provide a substantial donation for a historic monument.

English Heritage has totted up the small change collected from the bottom of the 26-feet deep well at Clifford’s Tower and has bagged £1,120.50 to help towards its upkeep.

It took three years to count the money after each coin had to be individually rinsed and then scrubbed clean.

Visitors have been dropping pennies into the well since 1996, and in October 2005, the money was recovered by an abseiler.

Claire Hogan, visitor operations manager for Clifford’s Tower, said: “We knew that there was a fair layer of coinage down there, but until the abseiler started digging, we had no idea quite how much.

“Bucket after bucket of coins came up before we eventually got to the bottom of the well, but they were all covered with a decade’s worth of muck and grime, so we have had to wash every single coin.”

The layer of coins was so deep that at the bottom, many had become compacted into just a chunk of misshapen metal – unrecognisable and unusable.

Foreign coins, including pre-euro Francs, Pesetas, Lira and Deutschmarks, were also found, as well as some other coins which had disintegrated and split over the years.

The usable coinage was handed over to English Heritage’s bank, HSBC, yesterday. The money will go towards funding the upkeep and maintenance of the 13th century stone keep.

“Given that staff had been emptying the mop bucket down the well for years, it is unsurprising quite how grimy the coins were, and indeed, we tried many different techniques to clean them from vinegar to soaking in cola but sadly, the only way to make a real difference was to rinse them with a hose then scrub them by hand – all 27,573 coins,” added Claire.

And, just like the traditional method of painting the Forth Bridge, staff are getting ready to empty the well again – of the three years’ worth of deposits people have made since it was last emptied.

Clifford’s Tower is open daily at the Eye of York. Admission prices are £3 for adults, (£2.40 concessions/ £1.50 children, or £7.50 for a family ticket (two adults and up to three children).

For details, phone 01904 646940 or visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/cliffordstower

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