Having made the circuit of the outer ward, and returning to the Traitor's Gate, the inner ward is entered by a noble gateway, the Bloody Tower. A stone embattled wall surrounds the inner ward. Flights of steps lead to the top of the wall, which is in places 40 feet in height and 12 thick. It is connected with and defended by 12 strong towers, standing at unequal distances from each other, and varying in form. These towers remain boldly conspicuous; they were most of them used formerly as prison-lodgings The White Tower occupies the centre of the inner ward. Against its southern wall is the Horse Armoury, a modern building, completed in 1826, in which are arranged equestrian statues of our kings in ancient armour. Immediately opposite to the Horse Armoury is the Ordnance Office, which partly occupies the site of the ancient palace that was taken down in the reign of James II.-1683-88. This royal residence stood in the space between the southern side of the White Tower and the Salt Tower, in the south-eastern angle of the inner ward. The new barracks are to the north of the White Tower. The first stone of this building was laid by the late Duke of Wellington, in 1845. This was the site of the Grand Storehouse, destroyed by fire in 1841. In the north-east angle of the inner ward, is the New Jewel House, where the Crown jewels have been kept since 1842. It is close to the Martin or Jewel Tower. In the opposite, (the south-west angle of the inner ward,) is the Governor's House, formerly called the Lieutenant's Lodgings. In the north-west angle of this ward, is the Chapel of St. Peter, erected in the reign of Edward I. Having thus taken a rapid survey of the general plan of the Tower of London, we will proceed to a nearer inspection of the several structures, commencing with the Outer Ward, the principal fortifications of which consist of a small chain of towers on that side of the fortress next the Thames, all of which were erected in the latter part of the reign of Henry III.-1216-72. The approach to the Tower used to be defended by considerable outworks, but these have been removed. The visitor enters the fortress by THE MIDDLE TOWER, FORMERLY CALLED THE MARTIN TOWER. This is a strong portal, flanked with bastions, and defended by gates and a portcullis. The upper part is of comparatively modern construction. This Tower protects the entrance to the principal bridge. Each bastion contains a guard room for the porters. THE BYWARD TOWER. This tower resembles the Middle Tower in almost every particular. Standing at the south-west angle of the fortress, it forms the principal entrance to the exterior line of fortifications. THE TRAITOR'S GATE OR ST. THOMAS'S TOWER. This is a large square building built over the moat, the outer line of which is protected by two circular Towers. These Towers exhibit in the interior interesting specimens of the early pointed architecture of Henry III's reign. This Tower is now appropriated to the raising of water and contains a steam engine. The passage underneath, by which state prisoners entered the Tower, is guarded by two strong water gates. THE CRADLE TOWER. Only the lower part of the original structure remains. It forms a curious vaulted gateway, which led in former times to a drawbridge. The upper portion of the Tower seems in early times, to have been connected with the apartments of the palace. THE WELL TOWER. The lower part is all that exists of the original, it consists of a vaulted chamber about 15 feet long by 10 wide. THE DEVELIN OR IRON GATE TOWER. Its situation is now occupied by a stone building of modern date; very little of the original structure remains, which, in 1641, is described in one of the Harleian manuscripts as an "old ruynous place." The space between the outer and the inner ballium walls on the eastern, northern, and southern sides, used to be occupied with brick buildings (now most of them removed) in which were regularly carried on the works of the Royal Mint, from the early part of the reign of Edward III—1322-77 till about 1810, when the Mint was removed to the handsome building on Tower Hill. The Towers above-named, with the lofty ramparts of the outer ballium wall, and the surrounding moat, completed the fortifications of the outer ward. William did not complete the circuit of outworks, now the inner ward, nor does it seem to have been finished till the reign of Stephen. The outer circuit and the defences to the western gate, were added by Henry III, about 1240; but nothing beyond plain masonry can now remain of that date, except perhaps the pillars only in St. Peter's Chapel. The only external architectural features remaining are evidently of the fifteenth century, and are confined to the two southern entrances; of which the outer or lower is known as "Traitor's Gate," now approached from the river, through an archway in the modern quay; and the inner is the "Bloody Tower," the traditional scene of the murder of Edward V. and his brother. The round bastion adjoining this, on the cast, called the WAKEFIELD or Record TOWER, retains a handsome Gothic octagonal room, but nothing externally. All the Towers to the enclosure of the inner ward have their names and their traditional associations, but the most interesting is that in the middle of the west side, called the BEAUCHAMP TOWER, the lodging in the sixteenth century of many famous prisoners, (the unfortunate Queen Anne Boleyn; John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, 1553; Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, 1587); who have, with many others, left inscriptions scratched on the walls. The Brick Tower, the first proceeding westward from the north-east angle, was the prison of Lady Jane Grey, and the Bell Tower the first eastward from the south-west angle, that of Queen Elizabeth; both confined here at one time soon after Mary's accession. Other parts that have been prisons, contain inscriptions by their occupants; and the Salt Tower at the south-east corner, a curious planisphere, engraved by Hugh Draper, confined on suspicion of magic, in 1561. None of the interesting old rooms, however, are generally accessible, except the ground floor of the Beauchamp Tower, and one small apartment in the White Tower, known as Queen Elizabeth's Armoury. This vault, which is entered through the modern Horse Armoury, is situated under St. John's Chapel, and being surrounded by walls 17 feet thick, supporting the whole width of the Chapel aisle, is the strong room of the fortress. In the thickness of one of its walls is formed a small dark dungeon, ten feet long and eight wide, famed as that of Sir Walter Raleigh, and receiving no light but from the entrance. Tradition states that Sir Walter Raleigh here wrote his History of the World. The inscriptions near the entrance to the cell are those of Rudston, Fane, and Culpepper; all implicated in Sir Thos. Wyatt's rebellion in 1553, which proved so fatal to Lady Jane Grey. We have no further account of these prisoners. Sir Thomas Wyatt was beheaded on Tower Hill, 1553. The Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, within the precinct and liberty of the Tower, and still the parish Church of the fortress, has nothing remarkable but having been the frequent, though not general, burying place of those beheaded on Tower Hill, or (when popular feeling rendered that dangerous,) within the fortress, or the adjoining green, now paved. Here were interred without a memorial (in the time of Henry VIII.) Fisher, Popish Bishop of Rochester; the Queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard; Sir Thomas More, (" in the belfry, or, as some say, as one entereth into the vestry, near unto the body of the holy martyr, Bishop Fisher"; Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex; and Magaret, the heroic Countess of Salisbury. In the time of Edward VI.-the Lord Admiral Sey mour, of Sudley, beheaded by order of his brother, the Protector Somerset; and the Protector Somerset himself. In the reign of Mary—the Duke of Northumberland (before the High Altar, “two Dukes between two Queenes, to wit, the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland between Queen Anne and Queen Katherine, all four beheaded;") Lord Guildford Dudley, and his wife, Lady Jane Grey. In the reign of Elizabeth-the Earl of Essex. In the reign of James I.-Sir Thomas Overbury, (poisoned). In the reign of Charles I.-Sir John Eliot, (died a prisoner). In the reign of Charles II.-Okey, (regicide). In the reign of James II.-the Duke of Monmouth. In the reign of Queen Anne-John Rotier, the eminent engraver; and lastly, in 1746-7, the Lords Kilmarnock, Balmerino, and Lovat, concerned in the affair of the Pretender. There are four monuments to Lieutenants of the Tower, the first of the time of Henry VII. The Norman Chapel of St. John, one of the most complete specimens of a Norman Church on a small scale, occupies the space from the first floor to the roof of the Keep or White Tower, and was originally used by the English monarchs as a place of worship, but is now devoted to the preservation of a portion of the public records. It has a semi-circular termination at the eastern end; and the twelve massive pillars which divide the nave from the aisles are also arranged in a semi-circle at the eastern end. The pillars are united by arches, which admit the light into the nave from the windows in the southern aisle. A gallery with arches corresponding to those below, is above the pillars. The interior of this interesting Chapel is entirely covered with plaster! but on breaking part of this away, it was discovered that the columns, archways, &c. are all faced with well-finished stones, retaining the marks of the tool, and laid in courses with thick joints of mortar. The floor is composed of very hard polished grey cement which is marked with lines to resemble squares of stone. This is boarded over ! In the reign of Henry III., (1240) that patron of the arts, three windows of stained-glass were added to the Chapel. A chaplain constantly performed divine service here, for which he received 50 shillings yearly at the Exchequer. At what period it was stripped of its ornaments and furniture and when it ceased to be used for religious purposes is unknown. The largest room on the upper floor was used as a Council-room when our kings held their Court at the tower. "This almost unrivalled apartment bears every appearance of high antiquity, and its massive timber roof and supporters harmonize with the grand features of the other parts of the building." Here the council is said to have been assembled when the Protector Richard, Duke of Gloucester, ordered Lord Hastings to instant execution in front of St. Peter's Chapel. Not the slightest vestige of a fire-place, or of a well, has been discovered in any part of this majestic edifice. The rolls of the Record Office, and War Stores, occupy every part of the White Tower, Queen Elizabeth's Armoury excepted. The stone structure which forms a wing to the eastern side of the White Tower, is occupied by the Ordnance Office as a depository for books and papers. The lower story was probably erected in the fourteenth century. The upper was added at the commencement of this century. The communication between the stories is by a spacious staircase in the north-east extremity of the building. The newel or circular column, around which the stairs wind, is a curious specimen of ancient masonry. There are also staircases in the north-west and south-east angles, commencing only on the first floor. A wall seven feet thick, extending north and south, divides the three stories from the base to the summit of the building. Another wall, extending east and west, subdivides the southernmost of the former divisions into unequal parts; thus forming in each story one large apartment and two smaller ones. D2 |