A team of green-fingered local volunteers refused to let the weather get them down when they donned gardening gloves and took to the slopes of Clifford’s Tower to help replant 100,000 daffodil bulbs.

Local school children and members of the Rotary Club joined the English Heritage gardening team to replant thousands of Narcissus bulbs at Clifford’s Tower, 30 years after they were originally installed by artist Gyora Novak.

In 1992, 200,000 daffodil bulbs were planted in a project to commemorate the 150 men, women and children of the Jewish faith who died in one of the worst anti-Semitic massacres of the Middle Ages in 1190.

The result was a beautiful display of the six-pointed Narcissus variety ‘February Gold’, representing the Star of David, covering the entire mound.

The stunning display of daffodils on the mound have become a unique feature of York’s early spring – a harbinger of better weather to come, as well as a moving reminder of one of the darkest episodes in the city’s history.

Over the years however the flowers on the south-west side of the mound have become depleted. It is hoped the planting will restore the stunning display.

Michael Klemperer, Senior Landscapes Advisor at English Heritage said: “With planting underway now, it is hoped that next spring, the flowers will be a stunning sea of sunshine yellow to mark the Memorial Day of the Jewish Massacre on 16 March 16. We thank the local community for coming out and supporting us in getting this monumental job done.”

It was William the Conqueror who first established a castle on the site of today’s Clifford’s Tower. When he marched north in 1068 to suppress a rebellion against his rule, he built a series of castles as he went, including one at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in York.

The castle, originally built of earth and timber and only later replaced by a stone keep and walls, was the setting for one of the most notorious events in English history: the mass suicide and massacre in March 1190 of York's Jewish community.

Tensions between Christians and Jews had increased during the 12th century, partly because many people were in debt to Jewish moneylenders and partly because of crusading propaganda against both Muslims against Jews.

In March 1190, about 150 people from the York Jewish community were given protective custody in Clifford's Tower.

Somehow, though, trust between the royal officials and the Jews broke down. A large anti-Jewish mob ran out of control in the city.

On March 16, realising that there would be no safe way out, a rabbi urged his fellow-inmates in the tower to commit suicide rather than fall into the hands of their persecutors.

Heads of households killed their own families before killing themselves, and the wooden tower itself was set on fire.