London (England) -- Antiquities; London (England) -- History
forming two sides of its perimeter, and probably broken through where
the ditch infringed upon it at either end. With the sole exception of
Colchester keep, which, as will be seen from the following table of
dimensions, is considerably larger, the tower or keep of the castle of
London exceeds in size the great rectangular keep of every other castle
in the British Isles. Unfortunately, the two upper stories of Colchester
keep have been destroyed, but sufficient remains (coupled with the
resemblance of its plan to that of the White Tower) to show that both
were designed by the same hand and erected about the same period, while
both alike were royal castles.
TABLE OF COMPARATIVE DIMENSIONS
LONDON. COLCHESTER.
Length (North to South) over all 121 feet 170 feet
Ditto within Buttresses 118 " 153 "
Breadth (East to West) over all 100 " 130 "
Ditto within Buttresses 98 " 115 "
Breadth of Apse 42 " 48 "
Diameter of Apse 21 " 24 "
Length (on South Side) over all 128 " 153 "
Number of Stories 4 now 2
Total Height 92 feet ---
Height of Two Lower Stories 42 " 32 feet
Thickness of Walls 15 " 14 "
Thanks to the drastic removals of recent years, the White Tower stands
to-day very much as when first erected. In plan it is practically
rectangular, but the north-east angle is capped by a projecting circular
turret containing the great main staircase that ascends from the
basement to the roof, serving each floor _en passant_, while the south
angle of the east face has a large semicircular projection that contains
the apse of the chapel. The main staircase terminates in a large
circular turret of two stories, that rises some twenty-nine feet above
the roof. The other angles terminate in three rectangular turrets about
fourteen feet square, and twenty-seven feet high above the roof. The
walls are at the base some fifteen feet in thickness, exclusive of the
steep battering plinth from which they rise, and which slopes sharply
outwards. They diminish by set-offs at each floor. The interior is
divided into two unequally sized chambers by a cross-wall ten feet in
thickness, running from north to south. Of these, the eastern one is
again subdivided by a thick cross-wall at its southern end, which is
carried up solid to the roof, while on the upper floors the central wall
is perforated by arcades of three, and four perfectly plain semicircular
headed arches. To the north and west the basement floor is about sixteen
feet below the existing ground level, which falls rapidly along the east
side, and on the south it is practically on the ground level, as the
ground there has not been artificially raised. The two larger chambers
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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