England, Picturesque and Descriptive: A Reminiscence of Foreign TravelCook, Joel
History
England, Picturesque and Descriptive: A Reminiscence of Foreign Travel
Cook, Joel
England -- Description and travel
In front of it was the place of execution, marked by an oval of
dark stones. The Beauchamp Tower stands at the middle of the west side
of the fortress, built in the thirteenth century and used as a prison;
there are numerous inscriptions and devices on the walls made by the
prisoners. Here Lady Jane Grey's husband carved in antique letters
"Iane." In the Bell Tower, at the south-western angle, the princess
Elizabeth was confined, and in the present century it was the prison of
Sir Francis Burdett, committed for commenting in print on the
proceedings of the House of Commons. The Tower Subway is a tunnel
constructed recently under the Thames from Tower Hill to Tooley Street
for passenger traffic. The Duke of Wellington was constable of the Tower
at one time, and its barracks are sometimes occupied by as many as eight
thousand troops. This ancient fortress always has a profound interest
for visitors, and no part of it more than the Water-Gate, leading from
the Thames, the noted "Traitor's Gate," through which have gone so many
victims of despotism and tyranny--heroes who have passed
"On through that gate, through which before
Went Sydney, Russell, Raleigh, Cranmer, More."
THE LOLLARDS AND LAMBETH.
[Illustration: THE LOLLARDS' TOWER, LAMBETH PALACE.]
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the primate of England, who crowns the
sovereigns, has his palace at Lambeth, on the south side of the Thames,
opposite Westminster, and its most noted portion is the Lollards' Tower.
The Lollards, named from their low tone of singing at interments, were a
numerous sect exerting great influence in the fourteenth century. The
Church persecuted them, and many suffered death, and their prison was
the Lollards' Tower, built in 1435, adjoining the archiepiscopal palace.
This prison is reached by a narrow stairway, and at the entrance is a
small doorway barely sufficient for one person to pass at a time. The
palace itself was built in the days of the Tudors, and the gatehouse of
red brick in 1499. The chapel is Early English, its oldest portion built
in the thirteenth century. All the Archbishops of Canterbury since that
time have been consecrated there. There is a great hall and library, and
the history of this famous religious palace is most interesting. At the
red brick gatehouse the dole is distributed by the archbishop, as from
time immemorial, to the indigent parishioners. Thirty poor widows on
three days of the week each get a loaf, meat, and two and a half pence,
while soup is also given them and to other poor persons. The archbishops
maintain this charity carefully, and their office is the head of the
Anglican Church.
[Illustration: ST. MARY-LE-BOW.]
[Illustration: ST. BRIDE'S, FLEET STREET.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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