Authorised Guide to the Tower of London

Authorised Guide to the Tower
of London

Project Gutenberg's Authorised Guide to the Tower of London, by W. J.
Loftie This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Authorised Guide to the Tower of London
Author: W. J. Loftie
Release Date: September 11, 2004 [EBook #13436]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOWER OF
LONDON ***

Produced by Audrey Longhurst, David Garcia and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.

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._)
[Illustration]

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.
* * * * *
PRICE ONE PENNY.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TOWER.]

THE TOWER OF LONDON.
* * * * *
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.[1] Condemned prisoners were usually
beheaded on
[Footnote 1: See page 32.]
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,