Authorised Guide to the Tower of LondonLoftie, W. J. (William John)
History
Authorised Guide to the Tower of London
Loftie, W. J. (William John)
Tower of London (London, England) -- Guidebooks
which may safely be attributed to the reign of King John. Here Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester, was imprisoned by Henry VIII, and the Princess
Elizabeth by her sister, Queen Mary. The "Curtain Wall," of great
antiquity, is pierced by the windows of the Lieutenant's Lodgings, now
called "The King's House," and one of these windows lights the Council
Chamber, where Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators were tried and
condemned, 1605.
_The Traitors' Gate_ (Pl. IV),
with St. Thomas's Tower, is now on our right. Observe the masonry which
supports the wide span of the arch. This gate, when the Thames was more
of a highway than it is at present, was often used as an entrance to the
Tower. St. Thomas' Tower was built by Henry III, and contains a small
chapel or oratory dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury. In later times
it was found convenient as a landing place for prisoners who had been
tried at Westminster; and here successively Edward Duke of Buckingham
(1521), Sir Thomas More, Queen Anne Boleyn, Cromwell Earl of Essex,
Queen Katharine Howard (1542) Seymour Duke of Somerset (1551), Lady Jane
Grey, the Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth, Devereux Earl of Essex
(1601), and James Duke of Monmouth, passed under the arch on their way
to a prison or the scaffold. Opposite is
_The Bloody Tower_ (Pl. VIII),
which is believed to derive its name from the suicide in it of Henry
Percy, eighth Earl of Northumberland, in 1585. Under this Tower we enter
the Inner Ward. It dates from the reigns of Edward III and Richard II,
and was called by its present name as early as 1597, being popularly
believed to be the scene of the murder of Edward V and his brother the
Duke of York, as well as of Henry VI. It was originally known as the
Garden Tower, as its upper storey opens on that part of the parade
ground which was formerly the Constable's Garden. Here Sir Walter
Raleigh was allowed to walk during his long imprisonment, and could
sometimes converse over the wall with the passers-by. Observe the
grooves for working the massive portcullis, which was raised by chains
and a windlass. These still exist on the upper floor. Immediately
adjoining the gateway on the east is the
_Wakefield Tower_ (Pl. III).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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