Authorised Guide to the Tower of London | Page 4

the citizens regained their ancient liberty. When Richard I was absent on the Crusade, his regent, Longchamp, resided in the Tower, of which he greatly enlarged the precincts by trespasses on the land of the city and of St. Katharine's Hospital. He surrendered the Tower to the citizens, led by John, in 1191. The church of St. Peter was in existence before 1210, and the whole Tower was held in pledge for the completion of Magna Charta in 1215 and 1216. In 1240 Henry III had the chapel of St. John decorated with painting and stained glass, and the royal apartments in the Keep were whitewashed, as well as the whole exterior. In the reign of Edward III it begins to assume its modern name, as "La Blanche Tour." During the wars with France many illustrious prisoners were lodged here, as David, King of Scots; John, King of France; Charles of Blois, and John de Vienne, governor of Calais, and his twelve brave burgesses. In the Tower Richard II signed his abdication, 1399. The Duke of Orleans, taken at Agincourt, was lodged by Henry V in the White Tower. From that time the Beauchamp Tower was more used as a prison, but it is probable that some of the Kentish rebels, taken with Wyatt in 1554, slept in the recesses of the crypt of the Chapel, long known as Queen Elizabeth's Armoury. In 1663, and later years down to 1709, structural repairs were carried out under the superintendence of Sir Christopher Wren, who replaced the Norman window openings with others of a classical character. Remains of four old windows are visible on the river side. A few years ago some disfiguring annexes and sheds were removed, as well as an external staircase of wood, which led up from the old Horse Armoury and entered the crypt by a window.
The White Tower is somewhat irregular in plan, for though it looks so square from the river its four sides are all of different lengths, and three of its corners are not right angles. The side towards which we approach is 107 feet from north to south. The south side measures 118 feet. It has four turrets at the corners, three of them square, the fourth, that on the north-east, being circular. From floor to battlements it is 90 feet in height. The original entrance was probably on the south side, and high above the ground, being reached as usual in Norman castles by an external stair which could be easily removed in time of danger. Another or the same entrance led from an upper storey of the palace. The interior is of the plainest and sternest character. Every consideration is postponed to that of obtaining the greatest strength and security. The outer walls vary in thickness from 15 feet in the lower to 11 in the upper storey. The whole building is crossed by one wall, which rises from base to summit and divides it into a large western and a smaller eastern portion. The eastern part is further subdivided by a wall which cuts off St. John's Chapel, its crypt, and its subcrypt, each roof of which is massively vaulted. There is no vaulting but a wooden floor between the storeys of the other part. There are several comparatively modern entrances.
A short external stair leads to a staircase in the thickness of the wall on the south side, by which we approach the Chapel. A brass plate on the right refers to some children's bones found in the reign of Charles II. They were identified, somewhat conjecturally, with the remains of Edward V and his brother who disappeared so mysteriously at the accession of Richard III, and were removed to Westminster Abbey in 1678. Ascending the stair we come to the passage which led from the palace to
_The Chapel of St. John_ (Pl. VIII).
The chapel is the largest and most complete now remaining in any Norman castle, and must have seen the devotions of William the Conqueror and his family. It is 55 feet 6 inches long by 31 feet wide, and 32 feet high, and is vaulted with a plain arch. There are four massive columns on either side and four in the apse. The south aisle, as we have seen, communicated with the palace, and an upper aisle, or gallery, similarly opened into the
State Apartments of the White Tower, which we reach by a circuitous route through a passage round the walls, only wide enough for one person at a time, and a circular, or newel, stair in the north-east turret, gaining at every turn glimpses of the extensive stores of small arms. The second floor is divided into two large apartments, not reckoning the chapel; in the eastern wall of the smaller or Banqueting Chamber, is a