Chapter XIII: Part 13

The Tower, though all save the keep is later, and most of it considerably later than the eleventh century, well supplements the original design. The area enclosed and the strength of the walls and gates are in keeping with the dimensions and impregnable character of the keep; and the circumscribing ditch, though unusually broad and deep, was by no means too secure a defence against a turbulent and notoriously brave body of citizens.

(From Lord De Ros’s Memorials of the Tower.)]

The Tower, in its present form, is a fine example of a concentric castle, of mixed composition, but general harmony of design, and covering, with its circumscribing ditch, about twelve acres of ground.

Nearly in the centre, but now detached and alone, stands the keep, “La blanche Tour” of Edward III., the oldest and most stable part of the fortress. Around it is the inner ward, in plan generally four-sided, but with a salient on the north front, and contained within a wall strengthened by a gatehouse and twelve mural towers.

Encircling this is the outer ward, following the same general plan, and contained within a wall rising from, and forming the scarp of, the ditch. Upon it are bold drum bastions, at the angles of the north front; and the south, or Thames front, is protected by five mural towers, of which one covers the land and one the water gate, and two others are connected with posterns.

The ditch, which completely girdles the fortress, is divided from the river by a narrow strip of land used as a wharf, but also ingeniously contrived to cut off the water of the ditch from the tidal stream.

The space outside the ditch, forming the esplanade of the fortress, is known as Tower Hill. It was once divided by the City wall, which extended from the north to the edge of the ditch, having a postern at the junction, which still gives name to a row of houses, and to the east of which is Little Tower Hill. The ground covered by the Tower rises from the river, so that parts of the inner ward are 40 feet above the water, and the ground north of, and outside the ditch, is 8 feet to 10 feet higher. This disadvantage was neutralised by the breadth of the ditch, while the descent towards the south, or entrance side, was of material advantage in repelling an attack from that side. The object being to command the river and fill the ditch, the keep was placed as high as was consistent with these points.

It has been remarked by Sir F. Palgrave, that William, in settling the jurisdiction of his new fortress, respected, as far as possible, the limits of the City of London. Only the smaller half of the enclosure was within the line of the old wall; and, while the Tower liberties (if St. Katherine’s be included within them) extend some distance eastward, or into the county of Middlesex, on the west frontier, the authority of the constable ranges but a little way beyond the counterscarp of the ditch. The area of the liberties proper is about 26 acres, of which the western portion stands in Tower Ward and All-Hallows Barking parish, and the eastern portion in the county of Middlesex.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION.

The _White_, or _Cæsar’s Tower_, is the keep of the fortress. It stands a little to the south-east of the centre of the inner ward, upon ground which, on the north, is 40 feet, and on the south 15 feet above the ordnance mean water-mark, so that the basement is at the ground level on one side, and above it on the other. It is quadrangular, 107 feet north and south by 118 feet east and west. Its two western angles are square. That on the north-east is capped by a round stair-turret, 22 feet diameter, about one-third engaged, and having 3 feet more projection upon the north than upon the east face. The south wall terminates eastward in a bold, half-round bow of 42 feet diameter, projecting on the east wall. This marks the apse of the chapel, and is the great peculiarity of this tower.

The keep rises 90 feet from the floor to the crest of the present battlement. It is composed of three floors, or four stages. The walls are reinforced by the usual pilaster strips; on the east face two, on the north three, on the west and south four each. The round turret has four pilasters, two being at its junction with the walls, and the bow four. They vary from 3 feet to 6 feet broad, and all are of 18 inches projection. They lessen by two sets-off, at 50 feet and 75 feet from the ground, and die away 8 feet below the battlement. Also upon the flank of each front containing the two square angles is a strip 12 feet broad, two to each angle, but so placed as not quite to cover it, so that three salient angles appear at each of the two corners. These four pilasters rise from the plinth unbroken to 16 feet above the battlement, forming square turrets. A third turret, also square, is placed on the roof, where, but for the bow, would be the south-east angle. Thus the keep is crowned by three square turrets and one round one.

The loops of the basement are seen to open just below those, now windows, of the second stage. The openings of the third stage, once probably single-light windows of moderate size, but now enlarged, appear, one between each pair of pilasters, and each below a large plain round-headed and slightly-recessed relieving arch, springing from a strip of wall left as a sort of pier against each pilaster. The base of this arcade is a set-off in the wall stopped by the pilasters.

The lights of the fourth or upper stage may be of about their original size. On the south wall, between the two western pilasters, the windows, of 2 feet opening, are in pairs, having a plain baluster in common, and each pair being within a shallow, round-headed recess, so that the eight windows form a short arcade. One pair are probably the only windows in the keep that present quite their original appearance; for the baluster, long since removed, was found bricked up in the adjacent wall, and is now in its proper place. It is believed to have been from one of these windows that Bishop Flambard, here a prisoner, let himself down. The exterior has been defaced by pointing with flint chips and mortar, and the substitution of Portland for the old ashlar dressings, but the windows, though enlarged into casements, represent the old openings.

The staircase, 11 feet diameter, contained within the circular or north-east turret, rises from the floor to the summit, and communicates with every floor, and with the leads.

The basement is slightly below ground on the north, and at the ground level on the south front. The walls are from 12 feet to 15 feet thick, and the internal area about 91 feet by 73 feet. This is crossed by a wall 10 feet thick, built with much neglect of the plumb-line. It rises to the summit, and divides the building into a larger western and smaller eastern portion. The latter is again subdivided into a larger northern and smaller southern part, by another wall, also carried through, so that every floor is divided into three chambers. The larger chambers are all ceiled with timber; all the smaller are vaulted. The basement was reached only from above by the great well-stair. The west chamber is 91 feet by 35 feet; the eastern, 67 feet by 28 feet; and the vault, the lower or sub-crypt of the chapel, known in Tower phrase as “Little Ease,” is 15 feet by 47 feet, the east end being semicircular. A door leads from the east into the west chamber, and from the former into Little Ease. Bold recesses in the walls ascend to a line of loops, giving air, but very little light.

In modern times a shaft has been sunk 10 feet in the south-west angle of this floor, and a tunnel cut through its 24 feet of foundation towards the river quay, and another door on the other side of the angle has been cut at the ground level. The two larger chambers have been vaulted in modern brick. Little Ease was, until recently, fitted up as a powder magazine, and passages cut through its east and west ends. These have now been carefully made good with old stone, and the vault cleared out. The well has lately been discovered. It is a plain pipe, 6 feet diameter, lined with ashlar. It is in the floor of the keep, a few feet from its south-western angle.

The second stage much resembles the basement. The walls are about 13 feet thick, the cross-wall 8 feet. In the latter are three openings, 6 feet wide and 15 feet high, round-headed and quite plain, between a doorway at the north end, 4 feet 6 inches wide and 12 feet high, and one at the south end, 4 feet wide and 9 feet high. These five openings communicate between the eastern and western chambers. The western room, 92 feet by 37 feet, has in its west wall five plain round-headed recesses, once converging into loops, but now enlarged into windows. In the south wall is a similar recess, and in the north wall are two. Between one of these and the west angle is a small mural passage, 2 feet 10 inches wide, and bent at right angles. This is vaulted, quadripartite, with plain hips, very rough, but good. Under its exterior loop was the garderobe shaft.

The eastern room, 68 feet by 30 feet, has in its east wall three recesses for loops. In its north wall is a recess, now cut into a door, and communicating with the outside by a double flight of modern stone steps. There is also an original door of 3 feet opening, leading by a short mural passage, 5 feet wide, to the well-stair, which supplies each stage. In the south wall a door leads into the crypt of the chapel, 13 feet 6 inches broad by 39 feet long, having an apsidal east end, and 17 feet high to the crown of its very plain vault. In the north wall of the crypt, near the apse, a passage 2 feet broad leads into a vaulted cell, 8 feet by 10 feet, formed in the wall, and quite dark. In the south wall three round-headed recesses, 6 feet broad and 13 feet high, terminated in loops, as did one at the east end. This crypt was fitted up as an armoury, but has been cleared out, and the injured vaulting restored in good taste.

The two larger rooms on this stage are 15 feet high, and recently their respective open ceilings were supported by eighteen and twelve large posts in double rows. These no doubt were inserted when the rooms were given up to stores and records. They have now been removed, and the beams stiffened with iron, to carry the weight of small-arms here stored up. Possibly there was originally a single line of posts, as 30 feet and 37 feet are large spans for single untrussed beams. Recently, two plain original fireplaces have been discovered in the east wall. Their smoke was discharged, as at Colchester, by two small apertures in the wall.

Ascending by the well-stair from this stage, a Tudor door is seen cut in the shell of the staircase, and leading into the adjacent armourers’ shops. A similar door, below this, has been cut at the ground level.

The third stage, or second floor, has also three chambers: the western, 95 feet by 40 feet; the eastern, 64 feet by 32 feet; both 15 feet high, and until recently propped by posts. The cross chamber is the chapel, which occupies this and the upper stage, to the roof. The exterior walls are here 10 feet to 11 feet, and the party-wall 6 feet thick. In the latter are five openings, as below, all apparently doorways. The rebates show that the doors of the four to the south opened into the east chamber, and the north door the other way. In the north wall, close to this door, are two mural garderobes, resembling that already described, one serving the west, and one the east room.

Within the north-west and south-west angles of this stage commence well-stairs, 9 feet diameter, which rise to the roof. They do not open, as usual, direct into the room; but, by short passages, into the jamb of the nearest loop recess. The east chamber is entered from the main stair in a similar way, by a passage 3 feet wide, in the north wall. In the south wall of this room is only a small door opening into the north aisle of the chapel. In its east wall are three loop recesses, and from the jamb of one a garderobe opens, resembling those described. In this wall also is the plain round-headed opening of a fireplace, with an inclined back and vertical flue, the outlet of which has not been followed. It resembles somewhat a fireplace in Colchester keep. This room is called the “Banqueting Chamber.”

Besides its regular recesses for loops, 7 feet wide and 14 feet high, of which there are five on the west side, two on the north, and one on the south, the west room has in its south wall a round-headed opening, which is the summit and landing of a well-stair, which commences, about 15 feet above the ground level, by an external door, and thence leads to the third stage. From its head there is also a mural passage leading into the west end of the south aisle of the chapel. This was, no doubt, the private way from the palace to the chapel and state-rooms of the keep. It was at the foot of this stair, in the wall, that were found the bones supposed to be those of the children of Edward IV., and now in Westminster Abbey.

The fourth, or upper stage, is the “state floor.” Its tripartite arrangement resembles those below, and the two larger chambers have open ceilings 21 feet high, until recently supported by posts, as below. The outer walls range from 10 feet to 11 feet thick, the party-wall is 6 feet, and the short cross-wall which shuts off the triforium of the chapel is 4 feet. The western, or great council-chamber, is 95 feet by 40 feet; the eastern, 65 feet by 32 feet. Between them are three plain openings, 7 feet wide and 14 feet high, and, flanking these, two doorways of smaller dimensions. It may be remarked that the square of the two western turrets is preserved in the council chamber. The angles project about 7 feet into the room. The north-eastern angle is hollow as usual. The exterior wall of these two chambers is threaded by a vaulted mural gallery, 13 feet high and 3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches wide. One end of it opens into the west end of the south aisle of the chapel triforium, and the other end into its north aisle near the chevet. It communicates with the main stair in the north-east turret, and with those in the two western turrets. It pierces the jambs of each of the window recesses, of which there are in the west room five in the west wall, two in the north, and two in the south wall; and in the east room three in the east wall, and one in the north. Where the gallery traverses the window recesses, the vault is raised a step. In this gallery, in the south wall of the state-room, are the coupled windows already described as escaped through by Flambard. This was the royal council-chamber, at least as late as the reign of Richard III. Here Charles of Orleans, and probably John of France, were confined. And hence Edward, Lord Hastings, the celebrated Chamberlain, was taken from the council-board to execution.

(From Lord de Ros’s Memorials.)]

The vertical section of the keep, upon a line east and west, looking south, and here given, shows on the ground floor “Little Ease,” and the lower store-room; on the first floor, the chapel crypt, and the upper store-room. On the second floor is the chapel nave and aisle, and the lower armoury; on the third floor, the chapel triforium and space above the vault, and the upper armoury or council-chamber.

The chapel, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, is a rare, if not a singular example of such an apartment, so large and so complete, in the original and interior arrangements of a Norman keep. It is in plan a rectangle, 40 feet by 31 feet, terminating eastward in a semicircular apse of its full breadth; its extreme length, therefore, with this addition, being 55 feet 6 inches.

It is divided into a nave and aisles, the latter being continued as a chevet round the apse.

The nave, 14 feet 6 inches broad, and 40 feet long, has an eastern apse, giving 7 feet 3 inches additional for the altar. It is divided from the aisles by four columns, and a western respond or half-column, on each side; and by four columns which contain the apse. The whole support thirteen arches. The columns are cylinders of 2 feet 6 inches diameter, and 6 feet 6 inches high, with plain torus bases resting upon a square stone of two stages, giving, with the base, an additional 20 inches. The capitals vary in pattern, some being plain cushion, others a combination of four cushions, giving a scalloped or indented outline in the elevation; others, again, are chamfered at the angles; and others finished with a stiff rude volute of an Ionic aspect.

The capitals of the eight eastern columns are unfinished, having a block in the form of a Tau, or cross-potent, upon each face, evidently intended to be carved into the usual central flower of a Corinthian capital; and the astragal is set round with a row of stiff upright feathers, like a plume. Each capital has a plain abacus, with varieties of the half-round, ogee, and hollow mouldings, excepting the western responds, of which the faces of the abaci are cut into the star-pattern found in early Norman work. Beneath is a light cable bead. These capitals vary from 34 inches to 40 inches square, and are 22 inches high, so that from the floor to the top of each is 10 feet. Each capital is a single block, and each abacus a single slab.

The thirteen arches springing from these capitals in the nave are 7 feet, and in the apse 2 feet 9 inches, diameter. The five apsidal arches are stilted, the rest semicircular, the crowns of all being level. The whole are perfectly plain openings in a 22-inch wall, without chamfer or rib.

Twenty inches above these crowns is a plain chamfered stringcourse, and upon this the arcade of the triforium, each arch being exactly above, and of the same diameter with, that below. These arches spring from piers 30 inches square, and 4 feet 3 inches high, without either base or cap. As the apsidal arches are not stilted, the piers are taller, so that the crowns still range.

The nave roof is a barrel vault, commencing imperceptibly at the crown level of the triforial arches, and ending eastwards in a semi-dome. The height to the crowns of the nave arches is 13 feet 6 inches, to those of the triforium 23 feet 9 inches, and to the crown of the vault 32 feet. The vault abuts against the west wall, in which is a plain round-headed recess, 18 inches deep, 12 feet diameter, and 13 feet 6 inches high.

The aisle is 6 feet 6 inches broad. Opposite to each nave column is a flat pilaster, advanced three steps from the wall surface, and having a plain chamfered abacus, or string-cap, and from each springs a broad flat rib. The aisle is thus divided into thirteen bays, four on each side, and five in the chevet, the sides of these latter being convergent. Each bay is hip-vaulted, the vaults being groined, and entirely in rubble work. The aisle is 13 feet 6 inches high. The wall of each bay is recessed, and the recesses form an arcade. In the southern recesses are four windows, of which two open between, and two upon the exterior pilaster strips. Four of the five apsidal bays also have windows, one being to the east. There are two doors: one in the north aisle, opening into the eastern room on the third stage of the keep, and one in the west wall of the south aisle, leading by a short mural gallery to the well-stair in the south wall, and into the great or western chamber of the keep.

The triforium is 7 feet 6 inches diameter. It is a mere plain gallery, without pilasters, stringcourse, or moulding of any kind, 8 feet high to the spring of its side barrel-vault, which gives 3 feet 9 inches more.

In its south wall are three windows, one opening in the face of an outer pilaster; and in the apse are five. In the north wall, and at the west end of the south limb, are the openings of the mural gallery which surrounds the keep at this, the council-chamber level; the chapel, as has been stated, rising through the two upper stories to the roof. The walls of the aisle are 4 feet thick; of the west and east ends, 5 feet. Of the triforium, the north, south, and east walls are 4 feet, and the west wall 5 feet 6 inches thick.

This, the earliest and simplest, as well as most complete Norman chapel in Britain, must have witnessed the devotions of the Conqueror, and his immediate descendants; the church, when afterwards built, having evidently been intended rather for the garrison at large than for the sovereign. The upper gallery, communicating with the state-rooms, was, no doubt, as was often the case in domestic chapels, intended for the principal persons, the household occupying the floor below. Always architecturally plain, the walls were probably painted and hung with tapestry, and the eastern windows contained stained glass, placed there, with other ornaments, by the piety of Henry III.

Henry also, in 1261, on the death of his sister-in-law, Saunchia, Countess of Cornwall, wife of his brother Richard, charged upon the Exchequer, in favour of the adjacent Hospital of St. Katherine, fifty shillings per annum for the support of a chaplain, here to pray for her soul; he having already, 1240–1, provided a similar endowment for the sustenance of a regular priest there, with vesture, and chalice, and everything necessary for his office. The obit payment probably fell into arrear; for, in 1290 (18 Edward I.), the Brethren and Sisters of St. Katherine petition for the fifty shillings given by Henry III. for the spiritual benefit of Saunchia. This chapel was dismantled by an Order of Council, August 22, 1550, directing, in both church and chapel, all such crosses, images, and plate of gold as remain, to be melted down. The chapel thus desecrated was long employed as a repository for records. Very recently these have been removed, the walls restored to their primitive simplicity, and the whole paved with tiles of a plain and suitable character. It is due to the interference of the late Lord de Ros that this chapel did not become a tailor’s warehouse.

Above the fourth stage of the keep is the flat leaded roof, affording an area between the parapet wall, of 100 feet east and west, by 113 feet north and south. The turrets rise about 16 feet above the platform, upon which they open by doors, the north-west, south-west, and north-east crowning well-stairs. The fourth, or south-east turret, is built over the chapel wall, and contains a chamber entered from the leads. The large circular, or north-east turret, of 16 feet interior diameter, and of two floors, was used as an observatory by Flamsteed, before the construction of the present building at Greenwich. Its upper floor seems to have been entered by an exterior stair, on the south side, for the support of which the parapet, as may be seen, has an exterior projection. These turrets have been cased, but the old Norman masonry may still be detected.

There is a sort of “entre-sol” between the chapel-vault and the roof, which, over the aisles, is about 7 feet high, and capable of being turned to account. Some of the old drawings show loopholes pierced in the south wall, and there are traces in the south-west turret of a doorway, which seems, from its level, to have led into this vacant space.

The place and manner of the original entrance to the keep are unknown. One notion is that it was on the north side, at the second stage, or first-floor level, near the east end of the wall, where there is at present an entrance by stone steps, 12 feet above the ground. This, however, is certainly an enlarged loop, the interior arch of the recess remaining. A close examination of the exterior shows that the present door has been cut through masonry not intended to cover a large opening, for the joints are horizontal, and there is no relieving arch. West of this in the next, or floor above, where also a modern door has been cut, through which stores are lifted into the armouries, there are traces of an arch of relief, intended to cover an opening of unusual size, and this also has been regarded as the original entrance. But this only seems to have been an enlarged loop; the recess has been enlarged by cutting away the wall, which at the sides has been refaced. This would have been unnecessary had the recess been intended for a doorway. More probably the entrance was on the south side near the west end, where, on this floor level, is a large and original opening with parallel sides and niches in the sides. Evidently this was the main entrance. The masonry shows where the doorway jambs and arch have been cut away, and a window inserted.

Very near this doorway, to the east, is a small but original door opening into the base of the small well-stair. These two doors, being at some height above the ground, pretty certainly opened into a forebuilding which covered the south side of the keep, having its outer entrance at the east end. The armoury is now being removed, and possibly below it may be found the foundations of the Norman forebuilding.

Although much injured and obscured by injudicious repairs, parts of the original surface may be detected. The base, quoins, and pilaster strips were evidently of ashlar, very open jointed. The rest of the wall was of rubble, rudely coursed, but with a great preponderance of mortar, much resembling the earliest work at Malling Abbey and St. Leonard’s Tower. The arches throughout are semicircular, and quite plain. The vaulting, though sometimes groined, is never ribbed. It may also be remarked that there is no subterranean chamber in the keep, or anywhere throughout the fortress.

The arrangements within the keep are very peculiar, and show a prevision against surprise, carried, if not to excess, yet to a degree fatal to the convenience of the royal personages and great officers of state, for whose deliberations and occasional residence the building was designed.

The main door, supposing it to be as indicated, opened upon a very gloomy first floor, from which a turnpike stair led downwards to the basement, and upwards to the second floor. To this floor the way from the stair was along a bent and narrow mural passage, and from the inner room by two staircases to the upper story and battlements. Having attained the upper story, the entrance to the state-rooms was again only by mural galleries, admitting but one person abreast.

For purely military purposes all this was advantageous. Supposing a score of resolute men to garrison the keep, they could hold the main door and postern against an army; or supposing them, by surprise, to have lost the lower stories, they could still defend the passage to the second floor without fear of being outflanked; while above there was easy access from the state-floor to the battlements, whence the enemy could be assailed to most advantage. There remained indeed to the besiegers the last and most terrible resource of firing the place, and, once within the walls, this would be easy and irresistible. Not even this immensely solid masonry would have resisted the conflagration which a torch flung upon the wooden floors of the building would be sure to kindle.

For the purposes of state the great height of the council-chamber, its excessive coldness, the difficulty of access, the inconvenience of the frequent posts probably necessary for the support of its roof, and finally, the entire absence of privacy in a room so large and with so many lateral openings, must have been serious drawbacks. No doubt the rooms were bratticed off into smaller chambers, and hung with tapestry, but even then the presence of the floors, ceilings, and partitions must have rendered the employment of stoves and bratticed chimneys very dangerous.

Neither is it easy to understand the intention of the arches in the party wall. Where, as at Rochester, these openings were of large span, the chambers admitted, on occasions of state, of being thrown into one. Here, however, though inconveniently large for doorways, they were far too small to make the rooms common. They could scarcely be intended to economise material, else the wall might have been safely much reduced in thickness, without piercing it completely through; and below they have no rebates or recesses for doors, or wooden partitions. On the third floor, where the doors are rebated, it is clear that they opened opposite ways, so that one, if not both the chambers, was subdivided. The rebates, however, may not be original.

The absence of all ornament, the very sparing use of ashlar, and the general roughness of the work, especially of the lower floor of this keep, lead to the conclusion that it was executed in haste, and with an insufficient command of good material. The vaulting especially is very coarse, and impressions remaining upon, and the occasional fragments of oak imbedded in, the mortar, show that the centering was composed of small rough oak slabs, not even cut to lengths, but overlapping, and that occasionally the form of the arch was preserved by the intervention of a rough coat of mortar. This used to be apparent even in the vaults of the chapel, and may still be seen in the mural galleries and staircases.

Against the east wall of the keep, a large rectangular building, now removed, was constructed, it is said, by Edward III. The lower walls were thick, and its south-east angle, which remains, seems to have been rounded off, perhaps as a turret. It is evidently an addition, and had nothing to do with any raised or covered entrance to the keep.

The inner ward is enclosed within a curtain wall, having four sides, twelve mural towers, and a gatehouse. The base or longest side faces the river. The east and west sides incline inwards, so that the north face is narrower than the base. This face is broken by an obtuse angle, having a central salient.

The level of much of this enclosure is 15 to 20 feet above that of the outer ward. Possibly part of the clay from the ditch, excavated by Longchamp, in the reign of Richard I., was here piled up. By reason of this difference, the lower part of this ward wall is a revetment, retaining the ground along the west and north, and part of the south and east fronts. The inequality is seen at the gatehouse, the passage through which rises one foot in ten to the middle of the ward; and, at St. Martin’s Staircase, at the north-east corner. Where the palace stood, from Wakefield to Salt Tower, the levels are nearly equal. This ward is much encumbered with buildings, some of the age of Henry VIII., some later, while others have been lately removed. No doubt this ward was always thus occupied, as the Tower was a depôt for all sorts of military stores, and a residence for petty officers of the court and garrison. In 1213, King John ordered to be salted and hung up “bacones nostros qui sunt apud Turrim”; and, in 1224, he drew upon the Tower for thirty dolia of wine; so that pigstyes and wine-stores formed a part of its contents. Lead, and the more expensive building-materials, were also kept here.

The Church of St. Peter ad Vincula, mentioned in the reign of John, and rebuilt in the late Perpendicular period, still occupies the north-west quarter of the ward. In the south-east quarter stood the Royal Palace, destroyed, at various times, by James, Cromwell, or after the Restoration. The keep in Norman castles was intended rather for the occasional than the regular residence of the lord, whose ordinary lodgings were more conveniently placed in the inner ward. This was so at Rochester, in 1281, at Bamborough, Carlisle Porchester, and elsewhere. Here the palace stood between the keep and the ward wall, and, besides, had walls of its own; one crossing from Wakefield Tower to the keep, where were drum-towers and a gateway known as Cold Harbour, and another called the Wardrobe Gallery, crossing from Broad Arrow Tower to the keep, and having upon it Wardrobe Tower, also circular, with a circular turret. The Queen’s Gallery extended from Salt to Lanthorn Tower, on the line of the curtain, and the great hall was connected with Wakefield Tower. The whole space was occupied by small courts and gardens, lodgings, and offices; and the buildings in the reign of Henry III. seem to have encroached upon the outer ward, where were two posterns for the service of the palace. These buildings, after the manner of royal houses, were always under repair; and seem to have absorbed much of the money expended on the Tower. The main guardhouse stands on the site of Cold Harbour. The foundation of the Queen’s Gallery and great hall have lately been laid open. Norman masonry, part of the ward-wall, has also been discovered. In the earlier surveys, the palace quarter is called the “Inner Ward.” Cold Harbour was probably very lofty; for, in 1572, complaint was made that Sir Owen Hopton, the lieutenant, allowed his prisoners to meet and walk on the “leads of Cold Harbour”; and about that time the Earl of Southampton stayed leaping upon the tower, his wife being on the opposite side of the ditch.

Of the twelve mural towers of this ward one caps each of the five angles. Two were intermediate on the south face, as two still are upon the east, and two upon the north, one on each side of the salient. The west, or shortest face, has one large intermediate tower. The gatehouse, called the Bloody Tower, stands considerably west of the centre of the south front, and opposite to Traitor’s Gate. It is contiguous to Wakefield Tower, which flanks it on the east, and probably determined its position and that of Traitor’s Gate.

Commencing with Wakefield, and passing westwards, the towers are, Bloody, Bell, Beauchamp, Devereux, Flint, Bowyer, Brick, St. Martin’s or Jewel, Constable’s, Broad-Arrow, Salt, and Lanthorn Tower, now destroyed.

Wakefield Tower deserves very close attention, its lower story being next to the keep in antiquity. It is also known as the Record Tower, records having been kept there from an early period until a short time ago. In the survey of Elizabeth it is called the Hall Tower, from its proximity to the royal hall, destroyed during the Commonwealth.

It is in plan a cylinder of 50 feet diameter, and is about 50 feet high. Its projection from the line of the south curtain is about 22 feet. Whether it was originally intended to cap an angle, is uncertain. No doubt the curtains from Lanthorn Tower on the east, and Cold Harbour on the north, abutted upon it on two faces, and were coëval with it; but it is unknown whether the third curtain from the west, now replaced by the gatehouse, was of the same date; and, in fact, whether the original design included the present inner ward.

This tower has two, and had three, stages. The basement, the floor of which is upon the ground level, contains an octagon chamber, 23 feet from face to face, with walls 13 feet 6 inches thick. In each face is a recess, 6 feet broad, having a semicircular head, the edge of which has a double chamfer, with an angular recess between. The northern and the three southern recesses are 8 feet deep, and have a flat end also 6 feet across, so that there is no splay. In the end is an opening, round-headed, and about 4 feet across, which contracts rapidly to a loophole. The north-east and north-west recesses are 7 feet and 6 feet deep, and are blank, without loops. The west recess is only 2 feet 6 inches deep, and was probably closed when the Bloody Tower was built. The eastern recess is the present entrance, but the curtain must have abutted on this side, so that it is not improbable that the original entrance was in the north-eastern recess. The chamber is, however, so dark, and the recesses so obscured and encumbered by stores and brick walls, that it is difficult to examine them minutely.

The chamber is 10 feet high. It has a flat timber covering, which, if not original, is very old, and may well represent the original. Probably it actually dates from the rebuilding of the upper story, in the reign of Henry III. In the centre of the chamber, upon a plain stone cheese-like base, is set up an oak post, 18 inches square, with the angles taken off. Upon this rest two beams, 11 inches square, at right angles, crossing the chamber east and west, and north and south. Parallel to the former, 2 feet from it on each side, are two other similar beams also crossing the chamber. There are, therefore, left outside these beams, and divided by the north and south beam, four quadrants, and these are filled up each with five beams, also 11 inches square, which radiate fan-like towards the walls, where all seem to have rested upon a stone ledge or wall-plate. The radiating beams are mortised into the main beams. All this work is original. These timbers have rotted at the wall ends, and to support them, and the load of records above them, two octagonal frames have been placed beneath, one close to the wall, and one half-way between the walls and the central post, and these are supported each by eight props, so that the interior of the chamber is disfigured by a regular forest of seventeen posts. East of this tower the foundation of the old curtain has been laid open.

Since these lines were written, all this timber work has been swept away, and the tower has been converted into the jewel office. On the north-east side of the tower is a later well-stair, 6 feet 6 inches diameter, which ascends to the first floor and the battlements.

This upper or first floor, also an octagon chamber, is of 30 feet diameter, and has a recess in seven of its eight faces. Of these three to the south, and that to the north-west, terminate in modern enlargements of the old windows, as does that of the west, of which the opening is skewed, to avoid the Bloody Tower. In the north face is a fireplace, probably representing an original one. The north-east recess is closed at 4 feet deep, and that to the east is occupied by two openings; one, the present door, evidently not original; close north of which, beneath a drop arch, is the original entrance from the palace, 5 feet 5 inches broad, and at 2 feet 6 inches deep reduced to 4 feet broad, where it forms a lofty doorway, now closed. These recesses have each a drop arch, supported by a plain chamfered rib.

The south-east recess was intended for an oratory, and its sides are produced inwards by two walls, buttressed in tabernacle work at their west ends, and connected above by a bold plain drop arch, rather light, and flatter than the rest. This no doubt is the chapel mentioned in 1238. It is possible that the recess to the north-east was the royal door, and that the narrow eastern opening led to the stair and to the rampart of the curtain.

The south recess also differs from the rest, in having within it a second rib, of 3 feet opening, as though above a doorway, and the opening is twisted to bring it opposite to the door of St. Thomas’s Tower, between which openings, 18 feet apart, there was evidently either a cross-wall or a light bridge, giving a short cut from the palace to the ramparts of the water-gate.

The intention was to vault this chamber, and in each angle is a semi-octagon pier, with a rude base, and without a cap. The total height of the ceiling, now flat, is 25 feet, so that the vault was to have had a high pitch with eight cells. It is clear that this never was executed.

This tower has now undergone complete restoration, all the interior fittings have been cleared out, the masonry laid bare, and the two floors vaulted, and the bridge suggested as having led to St. Thomas’s Tower has been actually built.

A line of blocked-up arches in the outer wall shows that an uppermost story was contemplated, and probably constructed, since in St. Thomas’s Tower is a second or upper door, evidently intended for a second bridge, or a passage along a cross rampart, above that already mentioned.

The arch-rings within, and the whole of the basement story without, of this tower, are of finely-jointed ashlar, and it appears from the decay of some of the stones, and from other indications, that the joints were not mere face-work, but were equally fine through the whole depth of each outer stone, a degree of precision not common now, and rare at any age. The upper story is of uncoursed rubble. It has been pointed and stuck over with chips of flint, but the acute relieving arches over the windows are seen, both of the first and second floor. The parapet is of brick, and encrusts an older wall of stone.

The basement of Wakefield Tower is probably late Norman, perhaps of the reign of Stephen, or Henry II., although this is no doubt early for masonry so finely jointed. The superstructure is early in the reign of Henry III., perhaps 1220–30, as in 1238 mention is made of the chapel in the new tower next the hall, and towards the Thames. The records of the realm were lodged in the New Temple as late as 20 Edward I., but 33 Edward I., they were in the Tower, no doubt the keep, whence “extra magnam turrim,” to make room for King John of France, they were removed, 1360, probably to this tower. In August of that year the clerk of the works was to repair the roof, doors, and windows of the house provided for the records, and this is repeated next year for the tower in which are the Chancery rolls.

The Wakefield Tower was the subject of a restoration in 1867, when all its modern disfigurements were removed, and the original masonry exposed. The brick casing was stripped from the parapet, the roof taken down, the interior fittings cleared away, and the brick and stone work with which the loops, enlarged into windows, had been made good, was removed.

The clearance included certain public garderobes, built against the north face of the tower, and a private garderobe, niched into the junction with the Bloody Tower, and thus was shown the original base of the latter, and the remains of a bold cordon encircling it 6 feet from the ground. Here also was exposed a loop and a curious hole, about 3 feet diameter, and 3 feet or 4 feet deep, of doubtful use. Besides the removal of these additions, the timber work of the ground-floor was cleared out, and the double circle of posts shown to be of modern date, inserted to support the additional weight of the records. The timbers of the ceiling were original. The main beams of oak, 6 feet by 6 feet, went deep into the wall, and were evidently laid when the upper floor was added by Henry III. They rested upon fragments of early roofing tiles.

The central post, also of oak, was found to stand upon a plain stone cylinder 2 feet 6 inches diameter and 3 feet 6 inches high. This again rested upon a thick square slab of oak, which was placed upon the head of a short pile, only partially decayed. Beneath the floor was laid 2 feet of broken tiles, and below this, gravel, so charged with moisture that a pit sunk 5 feet stood with 2 feet of water.

Of the arched recesses the masonry was sound, save a crack in the spandrels of that to the west. It was clear that the three southern recesses had contained original loops. That to the west seemed to have been walled up when the Bloody Tower was built. The northern recess was different, as though the loop had been lifted on account of the exterior ground having been raised.

The vaulting ribs of the first floor did not seem to have been completed. The north-western recess had been a fireplace, which the original herring-bone fire-back showed to have been very shallow, so as to require a hood, which two holes in the wall indicated to have been of timber. The south-eastern aperture was double. There was a small window with a drop arch and hollow chamfer, and steps up to it, and by its side a doorway pointing to the Water Tower, and no doubt intended to open on a small bridge.

The eastern recess now shows the oratory. The original window was narrow and drop pointed. On the wall are traces of fresco painting. There is also a piscina and a locker, and on each side a recess as for a sedile. That in the north wall has been cut as though for a doorway. The original door to this floor seems to have been in the north-east side.

There was evidently a floor above this. In the exterior wall are some cylindrical holes about 2 feet deep and 2 inches diameter. Their use is not clear. There were gurgoyles below the embrasures of the parapet. It is well to rebuild the bridge to the Water Tower, but to vault the ground-floor would be a mistake. The lower floor covering was always timber, and of a curious pattern. It should be replaced.

The Bloody Tower is the gatehouse of the inner ward. It stands in the south front, west of the centre, opposite to the earlier Traitor’s Gate, and it abuts against the also earlier Wakefield Tower. The exterior face ranges with the curtain. Its position was no doubt determined by the Traitor’s Gate, and by the advantages offered by the flanking defence of Wakefield Tower on the outside, and Cold Harbour Wall on the inside.

It is rectangular or nearly so in plan, 25 feet broad and 38 feet deep, and pierced by a vaulted passage, the axis of which has a twist to the east. It is of three stages, and 47 feet high from the outer gate cill to the parapet, which is modern, and of brick.

The portal, 15 feet wide, opens under a low-browed drop arch, 8 feet high at the spring, and 14 feet at the crown; 3 feet 6 inches within the entrance is a 6-inch portcullis groove, working through the vault in a chase 2 feet 6 inches broad, so as to admit a heavy wooden frame. Then follows a double chamfered gateway, reducing the passage to 11 feet 8 inches. Next is the body of the gatehouse, 21 feet long and vaulted, having a pair of gates at each end, and on the right a porter’s lodge. The inner pair of gates are succeeded by another chamfered gateway of 11 feet opening, and this by a second portcullis, with a chase only 1 foot 4 inches broad, followed by a portal of 15 ft. opening. The passage rises about one foot in ten, and this rise, giving a great advantage to the defenders, is continued to a point opposite to the White Tower, where it ends in a short flight of steps.

The vaulted space occupying the central part of the passage is about 22 feet long by 13 feet broad, and is divided into two not quite equal bays. The vaulting ribs spring from four corner and two intermediate corbels, representing lions’ heads, each supporting an octangular bracket.

Each bay is divided by four main hip ribs into four cells, and along the axis of each cell is a ridge rib, longitudinal and transverse. These cells are subdivided each by a secondary rib, springing also from the six corbels, and, with the ridge rib, dividing each cell into four compartments. Thus, besides the two wall half-ribs, from each intermediate corbel spring seven ribs, and from each angle corbel three ribs.

There are no regular bosses, but at each point of intersection the ribs abut upon an open circle, the centre of which is occupied by a lion’s face, dropped in from above. There are, therefore, three main and eight smaller circles, besides six half-circles at the junction of the ridge and wall-ribs. The ribs and circles, though of one pattern, are of two sizes. All have been clumsily cobbled with Roman cement.

The porter’s lodge, on the east side of the entrance, is a vaulted chamber, 10 feet square, with a window of two lights, no doubt replacing a loop towards the south or front. A door, now closed, on its north side, seems to have led into a staircase to the upper floors. About 4 feet of this lodge is excavated in the thickness of the wall of Wakefield Tower.

The entrance-way, on passing the gatehouse, lies between a retaining wall on the left, or west, and the main guard, which supersedes Cold Harbour wall, on the right. A modern staircase, no doubt representing an old one, ascends in the substance of the west wall, and opens on the parade before the constable’s house, and here also is the entrance to the first floor of the gatehouse.

This is by a Decorated, or early Perpendicular door, leading into a chamber 28 feet by 18 feet, having a large double-light window in the west wall by the door, and in the east wall a loop towards Cold Harbour, and a passage which, through a Caernarvon-headed door, leads into a small vaulted and ribbed garderobe on the left, and onward into what is no doubt the well-stair from below, now closed; and which seems to have ascended to the roof.

This, which was the portcullis chamber, has also windows at either end over the portals, and across its south end a low four-centred arch, in which are fastened two sheaves carrying the portcullis, which rises through a chase in the floor, and is lifted by a rude long wooden windlass worked by three sets of capstan bars.

The northern portcullis was lighter, and perhaps never actually inserted. The only trace of its working arrangements is a part of a flat-topped recess, from which it might have been suspended.

An upper floor, reached by a well-stair cut in the wall between this and the Wakefield Tower, contains a room 25 feet long by 18 feet broad, at the south end of which is walled off a passage 26 feet long by 4 feet broad, at the west end of which a door, now walled up, opened upon the ramparts, showing that this curious passage made a part of the rampart walk, which accounts for a door and loop which opens upon it from the gatehouse upper floor. The well-stair is continued to the leads of the tower, 10 feet above the curtain.

The doors, window, and portcullis arch in the first floor, all have a deep bold quarter-circle hollow, replacing the angle, instead of the usual chamfer.

This gatehouse is generally attributed to Edward III., who may have constructed it in the later part of his reign; or it may be the work of Richard II. The vaulting and portcullis-arch appear of later date than the walls, but the whole is probably of the transition period between Decorated and Perpendicular.

In the survey of Henry VIII. this is called the Garden Tower, being close to the constable’s garden, now the parade. In the survey of 1597, it is called by its present name; and popular prejudice, rather than Tower tradition, has attributed that name to the murder of the sons of Edward IV., idly said to have been perpetrated here.