The Cathedral Towns and Intervening Places of England, Ireland and Scotland:: A Description of Cities, Cathedrals, Lakes, Mountains, Ruins, and Watering-places.Silloway, Thomas W. (Thomas William)
History
The Cathedral Towns and Intervening Places of England, Ireland and Scotland:: A Description of Cities, Cathedrals, Lakes, Mountains, Ruins, and Watering-places.
Silloway, Thomas W. (Thomas William)
Great Britain -- Description and travel
The Tower, as it is familiarly called, is not a tower simply, nor any
single building, but twelve acres of ground enclosed by a massive
stone wall, one side of which borders the Thames. Inside the enclosure
are stone buildings, the principal of which is the large one in the
centre. It is several stories high, square in plan, measures about one
hundred and fifty feet on each side, and has square towers at each
angle. These are continued up some twenty feet above the main building,
and each is crowned with a Moorish dome and a weather vane. The White
Tower, as it is called, is another of the buildings, and was erected in
1078.
One finds a comfortable waiting-room just inside the grounds, and there
is always a company of visitors in waiting. When twenty are present,
one of the guards leads the way hurriedly through the portcullis,
calling attention to the several parts of the edifices.
We go through the Museum of Armor. On each side are effigy horses,
facing towards the passage-way, and on them are images of the kings
dressed in the armor worn in life.
We go into the dungeon where for twelve years Sir Walter Raleigh was
confined; the ancient chapel of St. John, five hundred years old; the
modern armory; the dungeon-keep where are deposited the crown-jewels
and other articles of royal value, all enclosed in glass, and protected
by iron-work.
Hastily we see the Traitor's Gate, through which Raleigh, Sidney,
and Russell were taken into the Tower; the room opposite, where the
two sons of Edward IV. were murdered at the instigation of Richard
III.; the Beauchamp Tower, where Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Gray were
detained; the old banquet-hall, in which are sixty thousand rifles.
For particulars the reader is referred to "Historical Memorials of the
Tower," by Lord de Ros, published at London in 1867.
Hampton Court is reached by steam railway, and is fifteen miles
from London. This palace was founded by Cardinal Wolsey; and of
his building, three large quadrangles, in the Tudor style, remain.
Large additions were made by William III., from designs by Sir
Christopher Wren. The state rooms contain a splendid collection of
paintings by Holbein, Vandyke, Kneller, and West, and also the seven
original cartoons of Raphael. Some of the rooms are still furnished
as sleeping-rooms, as they were when occupied by kings and queens
centuries ago. The public are freely admitted to the entire premises.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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