Authorised Guide to the Tower of London

Part 1

AUTHORISED GUIDE TO THE TOWER OF LONDON.

BY W.J. LOFTIE, B.A., F.S.A.

REVISED EDITION.

WITH TWELVE VIEWS AND TWO PLANS, AND A DESCRIPTION OF THE ARMOURY, BY THE VISCOUNT DILLON, P.S.A.

(Curator of the Tower Armouries.)

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY. AND SOLD AT THE TOWER.

1904

Reprinted 1907.

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PRICE ONE PENNY.

THE TOWER OF LONDON.

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GENERAL SKETCH.

The Tower of London was founded in 1078, by William the Conqueror, for the purpose of protecting and controlling the city. To make room for his chief buildings he removed two bastions of the old wall of London, and encroached slightly upon the civic boundaries. Part therefore of the Tower is in London, and part in Middlesex, but it forms, with its surrounding fortifications, a precinct in itself which belongs neither to the city nor the county. It covers an area of 18 acres within the Garden rails.

The present buildings are partly of the Norman period; but architecture of almost all the styles which have flourished in England may be found within the walls. It is well to remember that though the Tower is no longer a place of great military strength it has in time past been a fortress, a palace, and a prison, and to view it rightly we must regard it in this threefold aspect.

It was first built as a fortress, and has a central Keep, called the "White Tower." The Inner Ward is defended by a wall, flanked by thirteen towers, the entrance to it being on the south side under the Bloody Tower. The Outer Ward is defended by a second wall, flanked by six towers on the river face (see Pl. IX, X and XI), and by three semicircular bastions on the north face. A Ditch or "Moat," now dry, encircles the whole, crossed at the south-western angle by a stone bridge, leading to the "Byward Tower" from the "Middle Tower," a gateway which had formerly an outwork, called the "Lion Tower."

The Tower was occupied as a palace by all our Kings and Queens down to Charles II. It was the custom for each monarch to lodge in the Tower before his coronation, and to ride in procession to Westminster through the city. The Palace buildings stood eastward of the "Bloody Tower."

The security of the walls made it convenient as a State prison, the first known prisoner being Ralf Flambard, Bishop of Durham, who had been active under William Rufus in pushing on the buildings. From that time the Tower was seldom without some captive, English or foreign, of rank and importance.

In the Tudor period the "Green" within the Tower was used on very rare occasions for executions. Condemned prisoners were usually beheaded on

Tower Hill.

Emerging from the Mark Lane railway station, the visitor obtains an excellent view of the great fortress. Within the railed space of Trinity Square, the first permanent scaffold on Tower Hill was set up in the reign of Edward III, but the first execution recorded here was that of Sir Simon Burley in 1388. Here also were beheaded, among others, Dudley, the minister of Henry VII (1510), his son the Duke of Northumberland (1553), his grandson, Lord Guildford Dudley (1554), Cromwell, Earl of Essex (1540), More and Fisher (1535), Surrey (1547), and his son, Norfolk (1572), Strafford (1641), and Archbishop Laud (1645), and the Scotch lords in 1716, 1746, and 1747, the last being Simon, Lord Lovat.

The Tower moat is immediately before us. It is drained and used as a parade ground. Beyond it, as we approach the entrance, we have a good view of the fortifications. On the extreme left are the Brass Mount and North Bastions. In the middle is Legge's Mount. To the right is the entrance gateway. The highest building behind is the White Tower, easily distinguished by its four turrets. In front of it are the Devereux, Beauchamp, and Bell Towers, the residences of the Lieutenant of the Tower and of the Yeoman Gaoler being in the gabled and red tiled houses between the last two. From one of these windows Lady Jane Grey saw her husband's headless body brought in from Tower Hill, by the route we now traverse; and the leads are still called Queen Elizabeth's Walk, as she used them during her captivity in 1554.

The Lion Tower

stood where the Ticket Office and Refreshment Room are now. Here the visitor obtains a pass which admits him to see the Regalia, or Crown Jewels, and another for the Armoury. In the Middle Ages and down to 1834 the Royal Menagerie was lodged in a number of small buildings near the Lion Tower, whence its name was derived and the saying arose, "seeing the lions," for a visit to the Tower. Where the wooden gate now stands, there was a small work called the Conning Gate. It marked the boundaries of Middlesex and the Tower Precinct. Here prisoners were handed over to the Sheriff.

The Middle Tower (Pl. I)

was originally built by Henry III, but has been entirely refaced. Through its archway we reach the stone bridge, which had formerly in the centre a drawbridge of wood. We next reach

The Byward Tower (Pl. II),

Part 2

the great Gatehouse of the Outer Ward. It is in part the work of Henry III, and in part that of Richard II. Observe the vaulting and the dark recesses on the southern side. We pass on the left

The Bell Tower (Pl. IX),

which may safely be attributed to the reign of King John. Here Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was imprisoned by Henry VIII, and the Princess Elizabeth by her sister, Queen Mary. The "Curtain Wall," of great antiquity, is pierced by the windows of the Lieutenant's Lodgings, now called "The King's House," and one of these windows lights the Council Chamber, where Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators were tried and condemned, 1605.

The Traitors' Gate (Pl. IV),

with St. Thomas's Tower, is now on our right. Observe the masonry which supports the wide span of the arch. This gate, when the Thames was more of a highway than it is at present, was often used as an entrance to the Tower. St. Thomas' Tower was built by Henry III, and contains a small chapel or oratory dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury. In later times it was found convenient as a landing place for prisoners who had been tried at Westminster; and here successively Edward Duke of Buckingham (1521), Sir Thomas More, Queen Anne Boleyn, Cromwell Earl of Essex, Queen Katharine Howard (1542) Seymour Duke of Somerset (1551), Lady Jane Grey, the Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth, Devereux Earl of Essex (1601), and James Duke of Monmouth, passed under the arch on their way to a prison or the scaffold. Opposite is

The Bloody Tower (Pl. VIII),

which is believed to derive its name from the suicide in it of Henry Percy, eighth Earl of Northumberland, in 1585. Under this Tower we enter the Inner Ward. It dates from the reigns of Edward III and Richard II, and was called by its present name as early as 1597, being popularly believed to be the scene of the murder of Edward V and his brother the Duke of York, as well as of Henry VI. It was originally known as the Garden Tower, as its upper storey opens on that part of the parade ground which was formerly the Constable's Garden. Here Sir Walter Raleigh was allowed to walk during his long imprisonment, and could sometimes converse over the wall with the passers-by. Observe the grooves for working the massive portcullis, which was raised by chains and a windlass. These still exist on the upper floor. Immediately adjoining the gateway on the east is the

Wakefield Tower (Pl. III).

Its lower storey is the oldest building next to the Keep; it was, with the Lanthorn (rebuilt on the old foundation in 1884-5) and Cold Harbour Towers, part of the original Norman plan. The upper storey was rebuilt by Henry III, who made it the entrance to his palace on the east. The Great Hall, memorable as the scene of Anne Boleyn's trial, adjoined it, but was pulled down during the Commonwealth. In 1360 the records of the kingdom, which had previously been kept in the White Tower, were removed here, and this is called in ancient surveys sometimes the Record, and sometimes the Hall Tower. The present name is said to be derived from the imprisonment of Yorkists after the Lancastrian victory at Wakefield in 1460. It is used now for the safe keeping and exhibition of

The Crown Jewels.

The visitor who has obtained a ticket passes up a short stair and finds himself in a well-lighted circular apartment in the Wakefield Tower. The deep window recess opposite the door was fitted up as a small chapel, with Aumbry, Piscina, and Sedilia. Tradition says that Henry VI used it for his devotions when a prisoner in the Tower, and was here murdered. In the centre, in a large double case, are arranged the splendid objects which form the English Regalia. The following are the most remarkable:--

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