T H E T O W E R O F L O N D O N BY WALTE R G E OR G E BE LL W I T H E L E V E N D R A W I N G S BY H A N S L I P F L E T C H E R JOH N LANE TH E BODLEY HE AD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCM! ! I C ONTENTS PAGE THE NORMAN KEEP ' THE TRAITORS GATE ' S L PETE R AD V I NCULA BLOODY TOWER AND RE GAL IA THE BEAUCHAM P TOWER ’ THE KI NG S H OUS E ’ S P T. JOHN S CHA EL ENTRANCE TOWERS I LLUSTR ATIONS A RI V ERSIDE GLI M PSE TOWER OF LONDON F ROM THE RIV ER TH E CON! UEROR’S KEEP TH E TRAITORS’ GATE TH E F W LL W CUR E , OR BE , TO ER ST. PETER AD VI NC ULA CHAPEL BLOODY TOWER AND WA KEF IELD TOWER BEAUC HAM P TOWER F RO M AC ROSS THE MOAT ’ TOWER GREEN AND THE KI NG S HOUSE N ’S A L WI I N ST. JOH CH PE TH THE KEEP MIDDLE TOWER AND BYWARD TOWER TH E TOWER PHOTOGRA PHED F ROM AN AEROPLANE I N TH E TE! T PLAN OF THE TOWER STRONG ROOM I N THE BELL TOWER JACOBITE LORDS’ STONE TH E DUDLEY REBUS ! UEEN JANE INSCRI PTION PR E FAC E HESE chapters upon the Tower of London were written for The ” Daily Telegraph , and they are reprinted with the kin d permission of its proprietors . My purpose was a simple one , to endeavour to interest Londoners in their s own pos ession . I have stepped into no s s ll controver ie , sti less have I attempted any contribution towards settling them . If I am told that everything here said is li fami ar , then I shall be glad , for that will indicate a deeper knowledge by London citizens of their historical buildings and the matchless history of their city than has been disclosed to my own experience . Never yet have I met the man who has made open confession that he does not know The Tower . There would be a sense of s or o S hame in it . The mi f tune for L ndoners 9 I o PREFACE is that The Tower is in London , where it - they have no time for seeing not, as it s should be , in ome fastness of Wales , or r o o r r emote in C rnwall , pe ched upon a r mountain in the Lake Dist ict . Then every London visitor on h oliday would hasten to o r ss g over it . When I have p e ed anyone casually met to say when he w as last at the w r o f o has To e Lond n , the reply been Ah — — es well now y , it must be quite fifteen s year ; but I mean to go . My own effort l s r its wi l have e ved end if it sends him there . The justification for this volume must be ’ r M r H an sli found prima ily in . p Fletcher s i s for s s draw ng , in them he di play a sympathy with his subj ect which rarely has been su is achieved with ch success . It good that a great London newspaper should enrich its w r s ll pages ith such a ti tic i ustrations . For present purposes I have somewhat enlarged s o the c pe of the chapters . In condonation of my offence in producing yet another book r upon the Towe of London , may I plead that there is no other short book accessible OF LONDON THE FORTRESS rILLIAM THE CONQUEROR N buil t the formidable tower or Keep , four square to all the winds that blow , which is the central and s Of most conspicuous tructure the fortress , and the Tower of London it was then and ever since has been . It has never been called a castle . The Tower has stood to guard the river gate of London for eight and a half centuries , and nothing else within it has the age , or indeed the strength , of this earliest work , the Norman Keep . The Conqueror had two obj ects in view when he began to raise this formidable pile of masonry by the Thames side twelve years s after his seizure of the Engli h Crown . It should dispute the passage of any enemy who 13 1 4 THE TOWER OF LONDON might venture to sail up the Th ames to attack the commercial capital . But , more than s a s thi measure of protection , one im g ine , it was designed to overawe the Londoners . It was studied insolence on the Conqueror ’ s part to throw down a length of the defensive ’ wall that had been Lo ndon s protection in order that he might build his Tower ; the wall that had existed since the knowledge of —fin i man knew not to the contrary fact , s nce the Roman occupation . s s Becau e of thi challenging act , flung out , as it were , in defiance of any who should contest his will , a portion of The Tower of less than eight acres stands outside the City as its anciently limited by wall , the remainder its be of eighteen acres , if the outer scarp W the included , being ithin wall . A fragment of the Roman wall which encircled Lo ndon still may be seen by the littl e ruin of the s t demoli hed Wardrobe Tower, near the sou h — east angle of the Keep not the ruin rising some eight or ten feet high , which often is TH E FORTRESS 1 5 is mistaken for it . The Roman masonry level s with the ground , being merely the ba e of the wall , and is noteworthy as the only piece exposed which shows the sandstone footing with its bevelled edge . William the Conqueror built the Keep as s ffi we have it , a stronghold amply u cient in that day to stand by itself . Its massive walls 1 ! in the lower courses are 5 ft . in thickness , — and high above ground fully I I ft . too substantial to be burrowed through by the poor military engines of the eleventh cen tury . ul Little harm co d then befall it , especially when it was defended by armed men above . I ts single entrance was raised high , well out of reach of besiegers attacking the fortifica tion after the stage which gave access had been knocked away, isolating the garrison . There is question where the original entrance w as e placed , but it is probably indicat d by remains of an important arch to be seen on the south wall . I 6 THE TOWER OF LONDON The dungeons had no entrance from the r s level , but we e reached olely by the internal - staircase within the north eastern corner r turret , which ran down to thei depths and up to the roof and battlements of the Keep . A single entrance meant safety . Water for a besieged garrison was provided by the wide 0 . s mouthed well , 4 ft in depth , with side s closely masoned , which still fill below the floor of one chamber . The light of an electric - lamp to day ill uminates it . As an isolated r . fort , the Keep fulfilled eve y need ’ It is doubtful if in the Conqueror s lifetime any other portion of the fortress was com l eted . 1 0 8 p If begun in 7 , the date generally r s accepted , there emained but nine year of his r formid reign , and military wo ks of such u s r able nat re a thes e made slow p ogress . Gun d ul f e , the monk of the great Abb y of s s s Bec , made Bi hop of Roche ter oon after his u arrival in England , b ilt the Norman his Keep , and he toiled on with military architecture through the reign s of William 1 8 THE TOWER OF LONDON O UTER F ORTI F I OATI ONS King John and others are credited with some s hare in the strengthening of the wall n r contai ing the Inner Wa d , employing the - term in use to day but it was not till King - Henry III set his hand to the outer fortifica tions that the Tower of London took the form in which we know it Till then it s s r con i ted of a cent al Keep and one wall , with rs o as towe ab ut it a supplementary defence , s s - roughly quare . Thi Inner Ward of to day s ss r — po se ed one ent ance , and one alone the dark and fro wning archway beneath the o s Bl ody Tower , it elf of great antiquity , having the Wakefield To wer on its right its s is heavy portculli , with winch , still in r place , and still in wo king order , ready to be r lowe ed . That w as the entrance to The r r for s s Of Towe , whethe King , pri oners State , or for the garrison and below the gate the bank shelved steeply to the tidal Thames flowing by . THE FORTRESS 1 9 l The bo ats rowed up here .