From that day, some seven hundred years ago, the grey old walls of the Tower of London have been the outer casing of the casket which has contained the Crown Jewels of thirty-two Kings and Queens of England. The Jewels were probably first placed in the White Tower, that being the central keep of the Tower of London, itself then, and for many centuries after, the strongest fortress in England. On the north side of the crypt of St. John’s Chapel, which is in the White Tower, there is a small chamber with only one entrance and with no windows. This chamber, which some erroneous person for long marked as the cell of Sir Walter Raleigh,[1] would in those days have been an ideal place for the safe storage of the Regalia. It is not only an inner sanctuary, but also it was guarded without all round by soldiers and by battlements. A monk might pilfer the plate, but he had to get it past the soldiers and out of the fortress to profit by his prowess. In this sanctuary, in the crypt of St. John’s Chapel, the royal emblems and plate may well have remained for several reigns, and perhaps some centuries, but as the Regalia increased in quantity these restricted quarters would have been found too small to conveniently and suitably house them. Thus we find in an accurate survey of the Tower of London, made in 1597, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that a special Jewel House had been built outside of and adjoining the south face of the White Tower. This Jewel House was a long low building with a flat, castellated roof, whilst at the western end was a tall turret. There were two entrances, one through the turret and one in the middle of the south wall. The building was evidently one of two storeys, as two tiers of windows are shown, with two lights on each floor. [Illustration: A True and Exact Draught of the TOWER LIBERTIES, survey in the year 1597 by _GULIELMUS HAIWARD_ and _J. GASCOYNE_. PLAN OF THE TOWER OF LONDON SHOWING THE JEWEL HOUSE IN 1597 IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH (W); IN 1660 IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES II (I); IN 1920 IN THE REIGN OF GEORGE V (s)]