The Tower of London: A 2000 Year History

LANDMARKS IN HISTORY

THE TOWER OF LONDON A 2000 -YEAR .$

">? ROYAL ARMOURJES

HISTORY

IVAN LAPPER GEOFFREY PARNELL

OSPREY PUBLISHING

•

LANDMARKS IN HISTORY

THE TOWER OF LONDON A 2000- YEAR

*

IUnAt \N'IO!'NII:~

HISTORY

IVAN LAPPER GEOFFREY PARNELL

OSPREY PUBLISHING

Contents

.~' ..~.," . . ": if ,__ " r,~. .",-,-'" I ""'" • - . " • .., c . c' ~

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t.;; ,.-".. '" . .;; ...... ~ . t" .

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- AD 40

- 1iifore the 'Re!nans

4

- AD 200

- CTI,e '!\elnan c'i(Y :fortified

7

- AD 400

- CTwilight of the '!\elnan c'i(Y

to

- AD 886

- Jilji'ed and the 15anish q'hreat

13

- AD to80 -

CTI,e c'onqllerors c'astle

16

- AD 1200 -

me CTower inlarged

19

- AD ' 240 -

CTI,e dassic c'astle

22

'

~

- AD '300 -

- AD

1547 - me CTlldor :fower +IOlIse

- AD 1700 -

- AD

§rogee of the.A'edieval c'astle

/llOwplace

of the
,841 - CThe great c'onflagration

25 28 31 34

- AD 1890 -

1i,elledievalisation of the c'astle

37

- AD '940 -

CThe c'astle at cWar

40

- AD 2000 -

(Tile CTower CToday

43

CTower :flan

46

'1 ntroduction I VAN UPPER AReA has established himu/f as a Jeadillg i!lustrarar in the field of lIislOrical reconstruction. H is work, particularly his urchitecllIral and landscape impressiollS, may be ucn in mUSCllIIIS, historic build{lIgs alld ancient II/OIIIUIICIlIS across Britaill. Ivan Lappcr uses archaeological and documwtary evidence 10 make cardboard >nodeIs,jrom which the/i/w! arf1.lJOrk i.t created.

DR GEOFFREY PARNELL is Keeper of Tower History al lilt Royal An/to/lfies, Tou'cr of UJndOIl, alld a former E Ilglish Haitage lmpecwr of Ancient A1umlfll£1/1s. He ha s

Imderraken variorH excavatiolls

QI

the Tower

and has wrillell ex/ellSivery 011 {hc archaeology Ililhe sire Q/ld the hislOry of its buildillgs alid

illS/illlliolls.

he Tower of London occupies a special place in the history of the English nation and through this ([ association has become one of the most famous and visited buildings in the world. Popular images of ravens, Yeoman Warders, Crown Jewels and the myth of a grim fortress-pri son do not , however, do justice to the castle's complex s tory, including its long :md fascinating building history. The history of the Tower begins in 1066, but the form of the first Norman castle was to a large extent determined by buildings erected and modified by the Romans hundreds of years earlier. During the past 40 years our understanding of the history of the Tower and its sile has been transformed. The great increase in the study of buried remains and standing structures, together with advances in dating techniques such as tree-ring analysis, has produced a wea lth of new information . The Tower is one of the best-documented buildings in the country, and the study of surviving written and dr::!wn records has yielded much additional information. New research continues to shed more light on the past and in the process challenges establi shed views and interpretations. "Ib celebrate the start of the new millennium the Royal Armouries has commissioned the artist Ivan Lapper to produce fourteen impressions of the Tower of London and its sile at different times over the last 2000 yellrs. T hese views, incorporating the re~ults of recent research, provide a dramatic representation of the development of one of England 's most important historical sites from the close of the prehistoric period to the present.

§Cknowledgements he authors would like to thank Dr Edward Impey for information and ideas concerning architecture ([ detail and Mrs Bridget Clifford for help and assistance with the draft text and pieLUre research.

•

- AD 40 -

13efore the ~man5 yfprehistoric body gives clues about the earliest human settlement on the site of the future Tower of London

1>

urin g the prehistoric period lhe southern margins of the site of the future Tower of London formed a marshy area on the north bank of the river Thames. Archaeological cxcavadons in the sout.h-cast corner of the Inmost Ward , dose to the Lanthorn Tower, in 1955 and 1976 revealed a noticeable bend in the line of the river bank beneath accumulated layers of sand and gravel. From the tops of these deposits pieces of worn pottery and Oint flakes were recovered - the earliest evidence we have for human activity in the area. Towards the cnd of the prehistoric period the river re treated to the south leaving the area dry. The discovery of a large pit, yielding flint flakes and Iron Age pottery, and a shallow grave containing the skeleton of a young male, 1 3~ 1 6 years of age, demonstrated that there was human occupation in the vicinity. The body was arranged in a semi-flexed position with Jegs partly drawn up and pushed to o ne side and a rin g was found amo ng The prehistoric bank of the riVf!r Thames re1XJafed during excavations in fh e Inmost Ward i" 1976. The brick-fined pit i" the top right_llQtld corner date:rjrom the fale 17th or early 18th century. (G. Par" ellj

•

A late Iron Age burial di6covered lI ortn_we6t of tile LamJlOr" l ower during excatJatioll6 ill 1976. (G. IJarlleiJ)

thc finger bones. Radiocarbon a na lysis of the bone indicates that it dates back to no earlier than the beginning of the I st century AD. This, togethe r with the style of the burial a nd the seq ue nce of de posits that sca led t he g rave, suggests t hat the yo uth died just before t he Roman invasio n of AD 43. Prior 10 the Ro man invas io n t he lands on the north side of the Thames we re shared between the Trinov3mes and th e Catuvellauni, and it is probably to on e of the~e Belgie tri bes tha t the young man buried on the Thames foreshore belo nged. It is unlikely thllt he (o r the people who bu ried him) came from fa r afield, or thllt he was associated with any major settle ment. Instcad, as t he illus tratio n here suggests, home was probably a n isolated farm s tead on the ge ntle slope of hill leading down to th e Thumcs a nd his final resting-pillet.

- AD

200 -

crhe ~man

City 10rtified «he thriving Roman city

of Londillium

spreads across th e site, and is surrounded by a great defensive wall

cr

he area now occupied by the Tower ..... as nO I immediate ly affected by [he Roman invasion of AD 43 and the foundat ion of London (Lolldinillm). The earliesr deveio p mems lay just beyond the tidal reach of the Thames and round the rive r Wulbrook some 800m (875 yards) to the west. T he ear ly settlement became a tradi ng port which, according to the celebrated historian Tacitus, was 'packed with traders'. In AD 60 the new lown met a disastrou5 end at the hands of the vengeful Boudicca and he r Iceni followers. After several years of slow recovery umdinium began to expand rap idly and by the end of t he first century it had become a th r iving city with a great b r idge over the Thames (near the present London Bridge), a forum (market-place), a vaS1 basi lica (town hall) , an amphitheatre, public baths and a walled fort. The g rowth of me city eastwards also saw the marshy area of the Inmost Ward reclaimed by the end of the century - an act probably associated with the construction of some form of wharf under what is now the Outer Ward of the castle. This expansion may also have been

linked to the construction of a substantial masonry building on ground nuw partly occupied by the White Tower. The excavated remains of this building occupy a position along the projected line of Great Tower St, a road of Roman origin that led to the centre of the City from sonlewhere out in the countryside to the cast. During the 2nd century a timber-framed house with painted plaster walls was constructed on the reclaimed land adjoining the riverfront. Some time after the middle of the century it was destroyed by fire and immediately replaced by another property of similar form and appearance. Around AD 200 the replacement building was deliberately demolished to help make way for one of Roman London's most enduring monuments - the City wall. This impressive structure, JUSt over 2 miles (3 km) in length, was constructed to prOteCt the landward side of the city, perhaps at the instigation of Clodius Albinus, the governor of Britain who made an unsuccessful bid to become emperor, following the assassination of Commodus in AD 192. Sections of the wall, which was strengthened by a V-shaped ditch to the outside and an earth bank to the inside, have been recorded at different times within the confines of the Tower. It is clear that the construct'ion of the wal! proceeded from north to south, i.e. , towards the river, and that it terminated on or close to the site of the present Lanthorn Tower. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the construction of this section of the wall is the fact that much uf the masonry building ncar the south-east corner of the \Vhite Tower was allowed to remain standing. This highly unusual act may suggest that the building, or its owner, were of some importance.

A 2nd-century Roman intaglio, or genlSlOne, found during excavations in the IlImosrll'urd in 1976. Made ofredjaSfUJr ( 17...", x 13m ... X 2 ...",), th e device is the /ioddess Athena (i.e., Roman Mi"erva) willi Nihe (Victoria) standing on her extended arm and a rearing serp.mt below. (G. Parnell)

- AD 4 00

-

crwilight of the itman City «he threat oj Saxon sea-born e raids sees a strengthening oj the Towers riverside difen ces

t£,

Ufing the second half of the 3rd century the defences of Lo"di"iltm were strengthened by the addition of a defens ive ri\·er wall . A section of th e wall examined close 10 the La m h orn Tower in 1977 was found to rest on a great number of oak piles. The g rowth rings of th ese piles wefe cross~ matchcd with timbers recovered from beneath other parts of the river wall and dated to AD 255- 70. H istorically Ihis was II period o f grave t rouble, for Britain formed pan of t h e breakaway Gallic Empire tha i separated from Rome for fourteen years fo llowing th e usurpation of Cassianus Pos tumus in AD 259. It was du ring this period that the threat of Saxon sea-borne raids first became acute, and a number of powerful forts are believed to have been con struc led along the coaSI of sou thern E ng land in the 270s and 80s in respo n se 10 [he growing menace. During the lasl years of th e 4th cenlUr y a r emarkable remodelling of the riverside defe n ces close 10 the Lamhorn Tower was undertaken. A massive wall some 3 .20m (I0fl 6in) wide was e recled 4m (l3fl) to the nort h of the existing one,

TllfJ late

4t1'~cfJ .. t"ry

ROIna,. riVfJrsidfJ wall

v iewed/rom the fJast during excavatio,.s ill 1977. (G.

Pa rm~lI)

which it presumably replaced. Some 14.50m (47ft) west of the landward wall it turned abruptly south al an angle of 105 0 to connect with the carlier wall. The effect was 10 create II promontory at the extreme angle of the defences guarding the river approach to the city. Perhaps intended to llceommodate catapults, the promontory seems to have incorporated a small gate or postern in its west flank that provided access down ontO the foreshore. During excavations in 1976- 77 and 1979 nume rous late 4th-century coins we re found in deposits beneath and agai nst the wall, which secu rely date its construc tion to a period afte r AD 388- 92. As such the wall not only represents the latest Roman defence so far identified in London, but the latest Roman military work yel found in Britain. The remodelling of the river wall may be connected with the work of Stilicho, the Vandal general, who made a final effort to restore imperial order in Britain between AD 386 and 399. This is refle cted in an edict issued by the Emperor Honorius in AD 396 authorising local authorities to rebuild and repair theiT fortifications using, if necessary, materials drawn from disused temples and other buildings. In t his respect, rebuih or repa ired seclions of the wall at the Tower and elsewhere along the city riverfront seem to have made generous usc of second-hand stone taken from public buildings and other monuments. The same practice has becn observcd in the construction of bastions that were added to the eastern side of the landward wall - all perhaps part o f II final effort to modernise and improve the defences of Lo"di"ill/1/ in the years leading up to the official Roman withdrawal from Britain.

- AD

886 -

Ji"lfred and the

15an ish cr'hreat 5if}ter abandonment and decay in the 5th century, Alfred the Great orders the restoration of the city of LOlldon n the first years of the 5 th century Britain was in a peri lous political and economic state. Most of t he remaining Roman ga rrison departed for the Continent in AD 407, thereby allowing a barbarian onslaught to lake place. Nobles and local councils were left to urge inhabitants to take up a r ms and defend themselves. In AD 4 10 these bodies a ppealed to the empero r H onorius for help, but with the Goths at the gates of Rome itself there was little H onor ius could do except send his fa m ous letter renouncing responsibility for the defence of Britain. What the situation was in London at this lime is not clear. Excavations behind tbe restored river wall at the Tower have revealed tantalising evidence for building work sti1J continuing, while an official stamped silve r ingot and gold coins of H ono rius and Arcadius found nearby in 1777 may confirm the presence of a London Treasury mentioned in a late Roman document. It has been suggested that the south-east corner of the city, where the Tower now stands,

1

nurti,.,,, bombing di=/rned tI,i. Saxon fl rf:h , perll/JPI du ti"l1

fro'"

th" 9tll Qr 10th c:""tu ry, ill Ih ", so .. th _wesl c:or",er of th" 0/ A ll Hallows BarkinJl 0.1 'r OWQ r Iliff. (Mlls"" m of u ;md oPl A l"Chaeol0llical Ser vicll)

c hu rf:h

wa s transformed into a citadel o f las t retreat. Such developments arc recorded in other Roma n centres on t he Con tinent, but unti l more is known the situation in London remains un ce rtain. Acco rding to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the Britons of Kent fled to London afte r t heir defeat at the hands of the Saxons in 457 , If they did, they would have found little comfort, for all the evidence s uggests a city decayed and largely abandoned, The excavation of a la te Roman house to the west of the Tower at Bill ingsgate provides an evocative pic turc. The bu ilding was abandoned in the fi rst quarter of the 5th century and the reafter debris :lccumula\t:d ovcr the floors before decay caused the tiled roof to collapse. Subsequently the house received visitors, evidently scavengers, including a woman who 10s1 a b ronze brooch of a distinctive early Saxon form. Nearby, the riverfront lay ab:mdoncd, the wharves being slowly concealed by silts washed down from the hill side. The establishment of St Paul's Cathedral in 604 was perhaps one of the first steps along the road to London 's revival, bUt fo r t he: next 250 years the mai n Saxon senlement, Llil/del/wic, was situated along th e Strand (Akemallm!r
- AD 1080 -

CThe c'onqueror's c'astle <Work begins on the jirst Normall castle oj the Conquest. Th e life oj the I'night] White Tower begins

5f Th e White Tower II jewedjrom th e sOlllh- ru'llft with lire ..,.in8 of the lIardrobe Tower in the jOrfJ/lround. (Roy al A r mQu ries)

te r the riots t h ai accom pa nied William the Conqueror's t riumphant coronation in Westminster Abbey on C h ristmas Day 1066, his contemporary biographer, William of Poitiers, states that the king withdrew to Barking in Essex 'while certain fo rtifi cations were made against the fick leness of the vast and fierce population'. One of the three strongholds tha t the No r man invaders established in the City during the winter of 1066/7 was the future Tower of London, set within the south-east angle of the old Roman defences. Excavations have revealed a n early Nor man ditch that would have been reinforced with an earthen rampart and woode n slOckade a nd which indicates that the first castle enclosed an area of only I 'j, acres. It should be noted that when part of the Norman ditch was investigated in 1963- 64 unde r the Parade Ground, behind the White Tower, it was found to truncate an earlier ditch. That feature, which probably enclosed a site on the ridge of the hill, has led to suggestions that some SOrt of Saxon fortificatiun already existed in the area at the time of die Norman invasion.

Luwer p art of th e o rig inal J ll h _centlo ry

Norn.a" ditch disCOtJ01red du ring 6xcavationJI tf) th e too rth of (h e U'a hefie ld l ower i .. 1975. (G. Pu r .. eU)

If there was a pre-existing fo rtificalion in this corner of the City, the Norman engineers took no account of it, preferring instead to direct their line of defence to points along the Roman walls where bastions existed. Their enclosure must have contained the usual collection of lodgings, storehouses, sta bles, etc., although later rebuilding works have e rased all t race of t he m . Indeed, apart from the ditch, the only evidence for the original castle may be some maso nr y repairs to the Roman river wall that have been recorded dose to the Lamhorn Tower. M ost castles built during the Conquest included a 'motte' or a rtifi cial mound, but the Tower, its fo rm partly determined by the Roman walls to the east and south, seems not to have had o ne. The main entrance was to the west, close to the south-west corner of t he late r White Tower and along the projected line of Great Tower S1. Given its small size, there might have been an outer bailey, but again physical confirma tion has yet to be found. The history of the Tower of London as we know it today begins with the construction of the White Tower, the enormous structure that gave the castle its name. Work mus t have begun in , o r shortly after, 1077 when it is recorded that Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, was 'by command of Kin g William the Great ... supervising the wor k of the great tower of London'. ArChitecturall y the Whi te Tower derives from the great lowers, or donjmrs, that th e rulers of No rmandy had been creating fo r over 100 years to meet their residenTial, ceremonial and military needs. The While Tower was probably o nl y half built by 1087 when its owner, and the grealest No rman ruler of all lime, William the Conqueror. died following a riding accident.

•

- AD 1200 -

«he cTower inlarged dancellar Lal/gchamp begins to elliarge th e castle, bllt work is il/terrupted whw the Tower is captured

cr

'i,,'·. i,.,preslIio,1 of ,lie /orebuildj" K

A" ....

tit. IImlrotlce 10 t h e IVhite tile 1211. c."t/lry. ( R ayal Arm o llries)

ereclild 10 p rot ect

Tower

j"

h<: Anglo-Saxo n Chronicle m en tions that in 1097 a waU was buih about the To wer of London - presumably to replace the carth and timber rampart of the ConqUt:ror's lime. Otherwise little attentio n appears to have been paid to the castle by the second Norman ruler of England, William R ufus ( 1087- 11 00). In fact, recent investigations have shown that it was not unti l the followi ng reign of Henry I ( 1 100- 35) that work on the White Tower itself was completed . H enry I I ( I 154- 89). one of England's greatest castle builders, appears to have been res po nsible for certain repairs to the fabric of the c astle, including some of the royal lodgings that had been erected in the bailey to the south of the White Tower. Henry may also have been responsible for the large square: tower - known as the forebuilding - bu ilt against the south s ide of the White Tower, though this is not documented. Eventually demolished in J 674, th is was intended to s trengthen the largely unp rotected e ntrance thaI had previo usly existed probably fo r ceremonial not practical purposes.

Much more is known about the devc\opmcni of t he castle during the reign of Richard I {I 189- 99) at the end of the century. When Richard came to the throne he almost immediately departed on a Crusade to the Holy Land, kaving h ;5 chancellor, William Longchamp, TO administer the realm. Longchamp at o nce began to improve the defences of the castle, wilh the constable being allowed the enormous expendi ture of £2881 for the forty-nine weeks ending II November 1190. The principa l tas k described by the con temporary chronicler, Roger of Howden, wa s Ihe digging of a deep ditch, which Longchamp hoped to fill with the waters of the Thames. Part of this d itch was uncovered nonh of the White Tower in 1963- 64. It occupied the same north-ca st to south-west alignment as the earlier ~orman duch, wh ich it almost obliterated, but continued westward in the direction of the Beauchamp To ..... er. ..... here it presumably turned south to meet the Thames. Work on the new defences was still in progress when the king's brother, John, e ntered London o n t he night of 718 October I 191 and rallied an alliance of barons and Londoners to challenge Longchamp's autho rity. The unpopular bishop fled to the 1bwer, but was obl iged to s urrender. One reason fo r this, as described by the chronicler Matthew Paris in the next cenrury, was the fact t hat h is new moat failed to hold water. Work on the defences must ha ve been completed during the years foliowing Longchamp's banishment. The ..... ork of Longchamp that survives today includes t he impressive Bell Tower, on the so uth-west corner of the Inner Ward, and t he adjoini ng curtain wall to t he east. Both rise from a substantial plinth of seven offsets of Sussex marble intended to withstand the actio n of the Thames. The Bell Tower is unusual in that its shape is octagonal up to the top o f t he ground floor, thereafte r cylindrical. This awkward change might be explained if the towe r was built in t wo s tages, the second dating from afte r the fall of Longchamp.

r -r., CutatlXly ilIuatratiml of the 8ell 'lOwer s/lowinil tile "p/Wr and lower c/u~mlwr$ rn.d tiff! aUlJJle.ted arra"lIeme ,1( rJ/ tJlII rJdjoi"itlg /ftair IUrnlt a"d muml !W88ap. (£"111'811 lIerjttJllflj

- AD 1240

-

•

«he dassic

Castle rfhe Tower of LOlldon is enlarged to reflect the growing authority of the King, Henry

III

«

he situation the nine-year-old Ht' nr y III ( 1216- 72) inherited from his father, King Jo hn, in October 12 16 could not have been worse. l\1.uc h of southern Englund had fallen 10 the rebellio us nobles and their French allies whose leader, Prince Lou is, seemed destined fO rule the land. However, a number of major strongholds, including D over and Windsor, stubbornl y resisted the French adva nce allowing Henry's s upporters to rall y and defeat Prince Lou is a l lhc battle of Lin coln in M ay 12 17.

The Tower of London had fall en

10

King John 's enemies at

the SUIrE or the re bellion In 121 5, a fact nOI los t on Henry III , and doubtless th e reason why he spent so much time and effon improving its defences during his long reign. h was, howeve r, the residen tial com pie" to the sou th of the White Tower tha t attract ed the ellrJiest attention . Wo r k effec tively beglln in lIbout 1220 with the constructio n of twO towers, the larger being the WakeliddTowcr. t he other, apparently ready to be roofed in 1225- 26, probably being the Lanthorn Tower (rebuilt 1883- 8 4) ,

•

Both to wers occupied promineOl posil ia n! o n the corners of th e ward, a nd both were cons tructed with adjoining cham be r blocks. Loctlled eith er side of the great han (ilSd f rebuilt in the ea rly 12305), the arrangement see ms to re preseOl an early example of a king's and queen 's side In royal planning. The s uite includ ing the Wakefield "lower was the grundest Ilnd intended for Henry. II incorporated a private water-gtlte hard ag'J.inst the easr side of the towe r, affording direct access to the apartments o n the firs t noor. The m ost imposing chambe r wou ld have been in t he Wakefield Tower ilSelf and here the King would bave retired fo r rest and private conve rsation . It is in He nry's reign that we ha ve fo r the first time a clear idea of how the royal lodgings at the Towe r were decorated. In 1238, fo r eXllmple, the Queen, Eleanor of Provence, had the walls of he r chamber white washed tmd painted with false ashlar ( imi ta tion stone) lind fl owers. Contemporary with t he const ruction of the Wakefield Tower was Ih e castle's new water-gate immediatdy [0 the west. Quic kly enla rged into ;I s tro ng gate-house, it has been known r:u her misleadingl y s ince the 17th century:ls lhe Bloody To ..... er. In the late 12305, a nd at II lime whe n opposi tion to royal autho rit y was again mounting, the King embarked on a new ro und of improveme nts to th e Tower. This involved the conslfu.: tion of a new line of defen ce to the east a nd no rth of the existing outer circuit, thereby dollbling the size of the castl e. Included in the a rea of the city e nclosed by the new defences was the parish church of St Pe ter ad Vincula , which Henry retained and considerabl y embellished . The vicw o n page 23 shows the situat ion sho rt.! y before 23 April J 24 0 when the new gate at the western enlrllnce collapsed ' as if struck by an earthquake' and :11 a time when th e ..... all~ of the Whit e l ower we re being whitewashed a n act t ha t was to give the building its lo ng-sta nding name.

010230

~.:.::.~.:.~ " ~.'Pm. L __! ::::~~~~~'~ .....r

Cutawoy illlutmtiotl of ,ll1f 1I'alujield TOWOlr . ',owi"g the Or;,;,,"' urrat'Neme", Q/ tile limber jl(#J" tha I .epamt.,d tJ. 1iJ two chambers. (Euglis" 1I(1 ,.il(lgO)

•

- AD 1300

-

sfpogee of the A'edieval Castle rfidward Isbuilding work '/lakes the Tower one of the strongest fortificatiolls in England

cf

dward I ( 1272- 1307) was a successful warrior king and

England 's greatest castle build er. After his f eturn from a crusade in 1274, he set abo ul restoring roya l aut ho ri t), that had been seriously undermined in me second ha lf of his fat her's reign. At t he Tower, his work, largely carried OU I between 1275 and 1285, saw the cas tle transformed into one of t he most formidabl e fortifications in the realm. The programme involved the remodelli ng of Henry Ill 's western defences and the creation of a na rrow oUle r ward app roached by a complex land Cnl ra nc!! to the wen and a great water-gale to the south. The sca le o f th e operation is reflected in an expenditure of no less than £21 ,000, more than double that spent on the castle during H enry Ill 's entire reign . Work began with the e xcavation or a n enormous moat at least 160rt (50m) wide. Betwet'n 1275 a nd 128 1 no less than £4,150 was spent on the wages of diggers and hod men alone (it has been calculated that a medium-~izcd castle at this time could have been erected for abOU I £IOOO!). Tht' C ity wall, broken by

the excavation of the new moat, was strengthened by a stout gate-tower kn own as the Postern Gate. The new curtain wall was at first a relatively low structure, allowing fire power to be concentrated on the high walls and towers of the Inner Ward . II was streDgthened by a bastion o n tho;: north-west corner (Legge's Mount) and three square projections (perhaps inte nded for catapults) at the north end of the east wall. By 1300, however, berh wall and bastion had been s ubSt3ntially mised, while another bastion ( Brass Mount) was added to the no rth-east cor ne r. The sourn side of the Outer Ward was an area reclaimed from the Thames. T he main wa ter-gale of Henry Ill 's time, t he Bloody Tower, thus became an inner gate reached by land. Consequently, a new outer water entrance, 5t Thomas's Tower, was constructed, but on a much grander scale and with splendid accommodation for Edward himself on the first floor. The water-filled basin beneath the building allowed boats to dock inside the castle after the gates (commonly called Traitors' Gate) had been closed. A staircase in Ih" no nh-east tower led to the apartment above, the principal rooms being a hall and chamber. A bridge to the Wakefield Tower linked these rooms to the existing royal lodgings. The new western entrance was a formidable affair comprising an inner and outer gatehouse ( Byward and Middle towe rs) with a massive open barbican beyond (Lion Tower) all connected b)' Slone causewa ys incorporating drawbridge pits. The entrance was usable by the summer of 128 1, thus allowing the re modelling of the inner western defences to proceed . 'Fhe curt ain wall here, togethe r with the gigantic Beauchamp Tbwer midwa y along its length, displays an original brick lining, evidence for the notable usc of more than 350,000 bricks thar were imported from Flanders. This was t he firs t major use of this mate rial in England s ince the demise of the Roman Empire.

•,

. ,-

• ••

"

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The AfiddJe 'lOwer, the ce"/I'aJ lIalehouse oj EdVXlrd 1'$ "t1W wester'! e" trance co mpleted in 1281. Thi. drawi"g by T. II. Shepherd in 1849 .haw. the window. and Iltfl cout ,jarm. oj George I in.,alled in 1718-19. ('Guildltolll.ihrary)

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• _.J. , - - -"

"

".~

- AD

1547-

•

The CTudor Power rffouse (fhe Tower becomes home to Household departmellfs, govern men t offices and an increasing number of prisoll_ers hereas the p hysical 1imits of the Tower werc largely established during the reign o f Edward I, the architectu ral deve lopment of the castle was by no means over. Successive mona rchs sought to improve t he buildings while the functions and institutio ns that came 10 dominate the life

rW

of the castle continued to grow. For example, the reign of Edward [I (1307- 27) saw the formation of the PrivyWardrobc at the Tower, an organisation specialising in arms and munitions. At the same time the safekeeping of important Slate documen ts was improved by the seuin g up of a record office in the W hite

Tower chapel. The following reign of Edward III (1327- 77) witnessed much new building work. Some of this may still be seen , including the postern ga te against the east side of the Byward Tower. the handsome vault installed during the remodelling of the Bloody Tower, and the lower part of the Cradle Tower, built on the outer cunain wall between the Well Tower and St Thomas's Tower as a private water-gate for the King.

In Richa rd II 's re ign (1377- 99) a major project involved t he extension of the wharf to assume the form that it re tains to thiS day. The work was directed by no Jess a figure than the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, the then Clerk of the King's Works. During the Wars of the Roses thc "lower saw militar~' action in 1460 and again in 1471, on both occasions being bombarded with cannon. These incidents encouraged Edward VI ( 1464- 83) to extend the castle's defc nces for t he last time, with t he construction In 1480 of the brick Bulwa rk about the weste rn entrance. The e nc:Josu re was designed both to carry and to resist arlillery and as such was very ad vanced fo r the period. Also constructed at this time, o r shortly afU:r\vards, was the wedge-s haped gun~ t owe r attached to the Bywa rd 8arbican overlooking the wharf. Pie rced Wilh openings for cannon and handguns, this building provide~ an imporlant record of how medieval e ngineers were begin ning to adapt fo rtifications for artillery warfare. H enryVlI ( 14 85- 1505) was no! a frequent visito r to the Tower, but it was he who, in the first yea rs of the 16th centur y, c reated a second court o n the east of the old medieval palace. His son, HenryV IlI (1507-47), had the royal lodgings renovated in time fo r the coronation of Anne Boleyn in May 1533. Thereafter Henry rarely, if ever. stayed at the Tower again and An ne on ly o n the occasion of her own execu tio n . The most sign ificant b uildin g of H enry's later yea rs was the Long H ouse of Ordnance erected against the curtai n wa!! north of the White Tower. Thi s timber~fram ed building 'wherein all the Kinges majestic's store and provicon ;Of ar tillerie O rdnance a nd o the r Municons' could be ke pt, was constructed between 1545 and 1547 at a COS t o f £2,894. Another building from this period, a nd o ne that s till exists, is t he Queen 's H o use of 1540. Occupying t he a ngle of the Inner Ward, behind the Bell Tower, t hese lodgings were bu ilt fo r Sir Edmund Watsingham, Lieutenant of the 1owc: r.

A view oj d,ll Q" ~6!" '$ H(JI~se (10 the riJihl) .. lid its s"rrQu ndi"gs i" 172 0. (Royal Ar"' o"ri~s)

- AD 1700 ~howplace

of the '11ation crhe Tower increasingly becomes a military store and workshop, and a national museum of military might

cr

"jew of the in,erior of II model of ' h e Grtmd S,oreholUlI .llOwing til .. eost end of ,loll Small Armoury qf 1696.Allainsl the
ater Tudor mona rchs made only symbolic use of the Tower as a reside nce, usually o n the eve of the coronation processio n to Westminster Abbey. In M arch 1604 j ames I perfo rmed the lrad itionallodging for the last ti me. The palace buildings were by now q uil e dilapidated, as de monstrated by the great hall whose roof and walls were covered Witll giant pieces of canva ~ to kt:ep uu t the wea lhe r. In 16} 9 permissio n was give n to the Ord nance Office to conve rt t he hall into a militar y sto re and three years later the M aste r of the Ord nance occupied lIle old King's Lodgings in and around the Lantho rn Tower. By then othe r buildings fo rmerly associated with eour! life had been t urned into military stores, includ ing mos t of the \Vhite Tower. This process continued du ring the Commonwealth and accele ra ted afte r the resto ration of the mo narc hy in 1660, when t he Tower stores we re foun d to be inadeq uate to receive the a rms being recovered from a ro und the country. Consequentl y, in January 1663, a new storeho use was o rdered to be built in the old palace

Ellgrowd view 0/ the TtI1.l.\er o/ l..(mdoll/rom 'he river by m mcesla lls 1I0Uor publillhed ill 1647. ( Royal Armourics)

garden to the south-east of t he \'(Ihite "Ibwer. The result, the present New Armouries building, was fini shed by 8 November 1664. Two years later an am bitio us programme to conve rt the old medieval palace to the south of the White Tower inlo a complex of Or dna nco: Slore, offices and lodgings began . A plan to improve the powder magazine in the While Tower was abandoned, howc\'e r, after the disastrous Dutch raid on the Mcdway in J\.Jnc 1667. In 1679-80, LO counter Ihe continuing Dutch th reat, the riverside defences were improved and between 1682 and 1686, against a backdrop of internal dissent, a more cxtensin: plan to modernise the landward defences was implemented. The western entrance was reformed, numerous gun platforms were installed along the inner and outer defences, and new accommodation for an enlarged garrison provided. Despite these measures the Tower fell into the hands of James II's enemies, without a shot being fired , in 1688. By the end of the 17th century the role of the Tower as the central arsenal of the nation was drawing to a close as other depots in southern England, such as Plymouth, Portsmouth, Chatham and Woolwich, were being developed. This is reflected in the increasing use of parts of thl." Tower for public displays. For example the Grand Storehouse, ereClcd against the nonh curtain wall facing thl." \'(/hile Tower in 1688- 92, appears to havl." had its design altered to receive a remarkable display known as the Small Armoury. Occupying Ihe emire first floor, the armoury comprised lens of thousands of small a rms, and a mass of specia ll)' commissionl."d carvings. a rranged imo such diverse figures as pyramids, the ' Back Bones of a Whale', the 'Waves of the Sl."8' and a pair of ceremonial gates. Perhaps not surprisingly the 1 8th~centu ry historian William Maitland described it as a sight 'no one ever beheld without Astonishment ... not to be matched perhaps in rtll." world' .

•

- AD

1841 -

«he cjreat Conflagration I.if: at th e Tower is disrupted by three fires, the loss of th e Mint, and the end of the Menagerie ~

he life of the Tower changed little throughout the 18th century as the official departments and the inhabitants carried on with their dut ies and daily routines. At the start of George I's reign ( 1714- 27) the Siale of the defences was again reviewed and the batteries re-organised to improve their

CT

effectiveness. That said, the fortifications were hopelessly OUI of date and a visiting Portuguese merchant was probably correct whe n he observed that the place ' would not hold OU I four and twenty hou" against a n army prepared for a siege', The Ordnance regularly repaired a nd lo r replaced the lodgings assigned to its officers and officials. Some of this work can still be secn in the terrace of four houses (Old H ospital Block) for clerks built in 1718- 19 on the east side of the White Tower and another clerk's house (No.2 Tower Green) constructed in 1736 next to the Chaplain 's residence. The Middle Tower, which formt'd the residence of the Ordnance Barrack Master, also exhibits evidence of its refurbishment in 171 8- 19, including the coat of arms of George l over the gate passage. The accommodation or the

A V;flW oj thO! Tower by 1110mas Sholwr Boys

.llOrliy bfl/ore theft,." of 30 October 1841 destroyed tiJe Grand StoreiJo IIsfl. ( R oya l

Ar",o"r,es)

garrison also received regular attention, and in 1752 th e principal barracks in the Outer\'Vard, between the Salt and Broad Arrow towers, were reconstructed. The largest single building operation undertaken at the Tower during the 18th century was the reconstruction of the Ordnance administrative office south of the White Tower following a spectacular fire in 1774. The clearance that preceded construction saw much of what remained of the medieval and Tudor palace disappear, including the Lanthorn Tower. Ready for occupation in the autumn of 1780, the new building was seriously d3maged by a second fire in 1788, and during its renovation the former medieval great hall to the west was demolished to make way fo r an office extension and a new storehouse. The outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803 and the great increase in demand for arms saw the setting up of an 'Arms Manufactory' at the east end of the wharf. This closed in 1815, but the buildings remained fo r another 50 years. In 1812 the Royal Mint abando ned its workshops in the Outer Wa rd fo r new premises to the north-west of the Tower, thus ending more than 500 yea rs of coin production in the castle. In 1835, afte r more th3n 600 years, the Royal Menagerie finally closed, though like the Mint its buildings in and about 111<.' Lion Tower survived for the time being. The tourist attractions were enhanced with the construction of a new museum for the Tower Armouries against the south side of the White Tower in 1825 and a new Jewel House against the Martin Tower in 1840-41. In 1838 the price of viewing the Armouries was CUI from 3 shillings to I shilling and in the following year it was lowered again to 6d. The effect was to see visitor numbers risc from 10,500 to 80,000 per annum. These improvements, however, were overshadowed by a lerri ble fire that destroyed the Grand Storehouse and most of its contenls on the evening of 31 October 1841 - the greatest single disaster to have beset the Tower.

- AD

1890 -

1i.tmedievalisation

of the Castle (fh e To we r becomes a mass tou rist attractiorl and its image as a Inedieval castle is revived

tj3

ctween the spring of 1843 and the e nd of 1845 life at t.he Tower was greatl y disrupted by an operation to drain and panially in fill the filth y and polluted moat. Even before th is was fini shed, constru ctio n of a great new barrack block on the site of the Grand Storehouse had begun. Amid much ceremony on 15 1une 1845, the Duke of We llington, Constable of the Tower, laid the foundati on sto ne of the building, the Waterloo Barracks, named in celebration of his greatest victory. The barracks were built to ho use nearly 1,000 soldiers and cos t ove r £30,000. The arch itectural style, described as 'castellated Gothic orlhe fifteen th centur y', was clearly intended to harmo nise with the medieva l aspects of the castle and was devised by lhe Royal Engineers under the command of Ma jor Lewis Alexander H a ll . So toO was t he ne w officers' lodgings and mess (now the headquaners and museum of lhe Royal Regiment of Fusiliers) a nd the reconstructed towers behind the barracks. The barracks a nd their sur ro undings were finished by 1850, JU St ahead o f the a rri va l of Anthony Salvin, the e m inen t

Victorian architect m ost associated with t he restorat io n of the Tower. Salvin was first consulted abou t the Beauchamp Tower in 185 1 after the Office of Works considered a proposa l to ope n the building to the public. In the foll owing year various acc retion s were removed and thereafter the external walls of the tower were refaced, windows and doorways replaced and battlements recreated. In the wa ke of the subsequent withdrawal of the Record Office a nd the gradual phas ing Out of War Office stores, workshops a nd offices, this pattern o f restoration was to be rehearsed on many othe r buildings. By 1870 Sa lvin had completed major repairs and alterations to t he Sa lt Tower, White Tower, St Thomas's Tower and Wakefield Tower (in lhat o rder). In addition he provided the external design for the Casemates in the Outer Ward and had designed and supervised the building of the Pump House (now the Tower Shop) at the western entrance and the pair of Tudor-style houses immediately west uf the Blood y Tower. Afte r Salvin, Joh n Taylor, the Office of Works arc hitect who was subsequemly kn igh ted for his e ndeavours, direc ted restOratio ns. Taylor exercised a ve ry thorough approac h to restoration or 're-creation' as much of it might more accu ra tely be described. Under his supervision many historically important buildings were demolished or needlessly altered, simply beca use they did no comply with an aesthetic idea of what a medieval castle should look like. Some of the wo rse excesses were as§ociated with the clea ranl::'e of the Inmos t \'(Iard and the ' reconnructio n ' of the curt ain defences bet ween the Wakefield a nd Sa lt towe rs in 1879-88. However, this was t he last phase of the 'remedieva lisation ' process. Fo r as Thac keray Turner, Secretary of the Society fo r the Protection of Ancie nt Buildings, wrote in 1883 'the notion of building a medieval Tower to show wha t England was like in the 13th centur y will finally be give n up and in place of it a respect for genuin e remains of former times will prevail '. Thi s predic tion was abou t to be fulfilled.

A BOVE A photogrGph of St ThomDs'6 Tower tDR"n 6110rtly before June 1862 wh" n pArt ojtlllZ60ulh-eAsllllrret co/fAplI"d. Nole Ih e tarpaulin in from ojTroitorll' Galli, imllnded ( 0. pJ'Ol1idll priv acy for thll lIoJdif4r6 of ,he g arrison who uSlid tile water-filled bas i" below the building as A II0rt oj lArge bAtllj"g pool! (G. Par.ulll)

BELOW Tile samll view 0/ S. TI/Q",alll's TOW41r aft er .he ",storalion ofth ... blll'lding i" 1864-66. (G. Pan/elf)

•

- AD

1940

-

«he Castle atrWar (fhe two world Wars see a revival of the Tower as a state prisoll alld place of excClltioll

cr

he last building of the 19th century was the Main Gua rd,

four-storey, JacQbean-styled, structure erected north of the Wakefield Tower. Constructed in brick with stone d ressings between December 1898 and J uly 1900 it contained, in addition to the guardroom, an orderly room, olTIce, stores, recreation area, mess a nd lecture rooms. Aft er the hectic round of Victorian rcstoration9, works in the Tower du ring the carl y 20th century appea red restrained. Old habi ts d ie hard, howl;:ver, and in the years either side of the Great War ( 1 9 1 4~ 1 8) some rather heavy- handed works were undertaken. These included the conversion of Brass Mount into a military Stofe in 1908, the removal of the impressive clock faces from the north~asl turret of [he \X'hi te Tower and ahera tions to th~ Queen's House in 1913, a nd the removal of interesting accretions from the Byward Tower and the destructive refurbishment of the old Warders' Hall (now the Water Lane Shop) in the 19209. The greatest impac t on the life and fabric of the Tower In the 20th century, howeve r, was brought IIbout by the two World Wars. II

During the Great War, the air raid - a new a nd te rrifying feature of warfa re - sometimes disrup ted visits to the castle. AI the Slart o f hostilities the Ka iser had specifically instructed his military commanders not to target the royal palaces a nd histo ric mo numents of London, but as the war d ragged on the threat to the Tower inc reased . During o ne of the heaviest raids o n 13 June 19 17, a bomb landed in Ihe moat near Legge's M o unt . it fa iled to explode a nd the o nl y reported casualties were two pigeons. During t he G reat War the Tower staged a revival as a state prison and place of executio n. Eleven German spies we re shot within the precincts be tween November 19 14 and April 1916. During the Second World War (1939-45) some 180 men passed through the castle on their way \0 prison camps in the north of England. M ost were U-boat men and Luftwaffe airmen. There were, however, tWO notable prisoners - Herr Gerlach, the German Consul Generalw Iceland, and Rudu lf H ess, the Deputy Fuhrer of Germany. The role of the Tower as a state prison finally ended on 14 August 194 1 when the convicted German spy Josef Jacobs was executed by firing squad. Aerial bombardment du ring the Second World War caused considera ble damage, notably between September and December 19 40 when a ttacks on London we re at their mos( imense. One of the heaviest raids - as depicted here - was o n the night of 29 December. Sire ns heraldi ng the approach of the G erman aircraft were sounded a t 6. 1Opm a nd the 'all clear' at 1 IAOpm. During this time thousands of incend ia ry bombs a nd other devices were dropped on the City. The dewuctio n around the Tower was conside ra ble, a n army officer ~ported that (he flames 'created an awesome spectacle and one that those who saw it will never fo rgel'. At about 7.30pm two or th ree incendiaries la nded o n the roof of the M ain Guard and II fire soon took hold . A valiant effort was made to save the building, but strong winds and a lack of water pressure sealed ils fate.

11111. North Bastioll, built midW(lY A/onl th#i oul.er northern ~rtQ'n W(I/l ,PI 18j6, q/rer b eing wreck.ed by a high·QXpJos;tJfI bomb 1m j Cktob¥r 1940. Sadly the oc~pant, }wrrum nard.er R.efllJ#is, 10$1 his Ii/Ii durin, the incidfmt. (Royal Ar"'Ollri#i"j

- AD 2000

-

«he «ower «oday §rchaeological and documental) research reveals new evidence of the Tower s history

Jlf

thC o utb reak of hostilities in 1939 public admissio n to the To we r was suspe nded while the Crown Jewels and imporIa nt par Is of the Ar m o uric! we re e vac uated, the fo r mer to a location tha t has never be en disclosed . P rivilege to urs for Dom in ion and Allied troo ps were organised, but it was not until I January 1946, several months after the ago ny of war had ende d, t hat the castle reop ened its gates to th e public . By th en much o f the damage h ad been mad e good and the exhibits reinstated . The Tower qu ickl y fe-established itself 35 o ne of the natio n 's most popula r a n racrions a nd now a nn ually at tracts ove r 2 '1. m illio n visi to rs.

The steady growth in to urism has, to some exten t, been achieve d at the expense of what rem ained of the instilUti on ai life of lhc c astle. The garrison h as dw ind led 10 a sm all cont ingent re taine d for guard and ceremo nial duties, whi le the rolc: of the Tower as a m ilitary su pply base, its o ldest fun c tio n, c nded virtua lly unno ticed in 1994 wit h the withdrawal of the Royal Archae%llj$ts O!xcavatinJl pal't oj th ll Lion T~r, th ll lIitll oj th ll R oyal M enaglll'ill, jnApril 1999. (RidlUM 8radley)

Tlul Li"e oj Kings, olle oj tile 'l bwer'6 historic displaY6 da ti/Iii Jrom J6&>. Tlul s tory oj tllis remarkable exh ib itia .. is "ow to ld ill o"e oj tile ROJMlI ArmQfI,ie6'IIalle,ies i" tl,e "'"ite l Ower, redispluyt'd befweltn 1996 and 1998, (R oyal A",,,o fl,ies)

Logistic Corps. In 1984 the last of the skilled c raftsmen closed their wo rks hops and depar ted. T welve years later most of t he staff of the Armouries (renamed Royal Armouries in 1985) and much of its collection, left for a purpose-built museum in Leeds in Yorkshire. That said, the Tower remains a living institution managed by a Reside nt Governor and his staff and wit h a ceremo nial life that continues unabated. Mo re than one hundred people still inhabit the castle's confines and more than two hundred work there during the day. It remains, too, the headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, raised here in 1685, while the Royal Armouries, the descendant of the medieval armoury, continues to display an impo rtant part of its collectio n in the White Tower as well as mainta ining a library and education centre. Some of the recent changes to the castle have provided o pportunities to investigate its past, to open new areas to public view and to improve the way it displays its treasures and caters for visito r needs. In t his process, visito rs' understandi ng of the unique and fascinating story of t he Tower o f London and its site has been enhanced.

CTowerjlan •

Buildings open to the public are numbered in red Beauchamp Tower

1 Bell Tower

3

Bloody Tower

4 BowyerTowcr

5

Brass Mount

15 16

Develin Tower

29 Salt Tower

FlintTower

30 Scaffold Site

17 Fusiliers' Museum 18 Hospital Block

'9

Henry ill's Watergate

6 Brick Tower

20 Lamhorn Tower

7 Broad Arrow Tower

21 Legge's Mount

8

22 [joe of the Roman City Wall

BY'vard Tower

31 Site of the Great Hall 32 St Thomas's Tower 33 Tower Grecn

34 Tower H ill Memorial 35 Traitors' Gate

36

Wakefield Tower

37 Wall of the Inmost Ward

9 Casemates

23

10 Chapel Royal of $1 Peter ad Vincula

24 Martin Tower

38 Wardrobe Tower 39 Water Lane

11 CoJdharboUT Gate (remains)

25

40 Waterloo Barracks, Crown Jewels

T2 Constable Tower

26 Mint Street

41 WeU Tower

13 Cradle Tower

27 New Annouries

42 Wharf

14 Devereux Tower

28 Queen's House

43 White1bwer

Lion Tower Drawbridge Pit

Middle Tower

~

TOWER HILL

- - -TOWER BRIDGE -:-

Underground & Buses

J4

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FIrst published in Great Britain in 2000 by Osprey Publishing Elms Court, Cha pel Way, Botky, Oxford OX2 9LI', U K E-mail: info(u.ospreypublishing.com , 2000 Board of Trustc:es of the Armouries All rights reserved. Apart from any fai r dt.'a iing for the purpose: of private study, rescurcb, criticism or review, as pcrmined under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no par. of this publication may be n;:produc('d, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by nny means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanica l, optical, photOcopying, recording or olhcrwise, withoUi the pno r wriuen permission of the copyright owner. Enqulric:s should bt.' addressed fO the: Puhlishers. C IP Data for this publiclli inn iii avaihtble (rom the "ri tish Library

IS BN 1 84 1761702 Editor; Jane Penrose Designer: Rehecca Smart Origin at jon by Valhaven Ltd, Islt:wurth, UK Printed through Bookbu ild ers, H ong Kong 04

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COiN CREDtTS pp4, 13 COll r",,,,)' oj til" Mllkell", qf l.Ot.do" pp7, I (}, 16, 19,22,25,28, .11 ,34,37, 40 CO'''' ,eky oj,h,,1'rua,eu oj the I1ri" ...." ~fuse''''' , ,4] cO lirlclO}, ,>Jlhl! Royal M illt Boch cot.oer j",og¥ cour' .....,. vj tl, .. 860m of 'he Tru ... '"'''' of 'he "1" "1)" ..i.....

LANDMARKS IN HISTORY A stunnin g 2000-year history of the Tower of London, narrated by the Royal Armouries' official Keeper of Tower History. Brought vivid ly to life by 14 bea utifully-illustrated impress ions of the Tower over the last two millennia, this truly is th e definitive illustrated gu ide to th e Tower of London. www.armourics.org.uk . www.ospreypublishlng.com ISBN 1-84176-170-2

ROYAL It.

RMOURI ES

OSPREY HISTORY