Plan of the Tower....

The Tower of London was founded in 1078, by William the Conqueror, for the purpose of protecting and controlling the city. To make room for his chief buildings he removed two bastions of the old wall of London, and encroached slightly upon the civic boundaries. Part therefore of the Tower is in London, and part in Middlesex, but it forms, with its surrounding fortifications, a precinct in itself which belongs neither to the city nor the county. It covers an area of 18 acres within the Garden rai

Emerging from the Mark Lane railway station, the visitor obtains an excellent view of the great fortress. Within the railed space of Trinity Square, the first permanent scaffold on Tower Hill was set up in the reign of Edward III, but the first execution recorded here was that of Sir Simon Burley in 1388. Here also were beheaded, among others, Dudley, the minister of Henry VII (1510), his son the Duke of Northumberland (1553), his grandson, Lord Guildford Dudley (1554), Cromwell, Earl of Essex (

stood where the Ticket Office and Refreshment Room are now. Here the visitor obtains a pass which admits him to see the Regalia, or Crown Jewels, and another for the Armoury. In the Middle Ages and down to 1834 the Royal Menagerie was lodged in a number of small buildings near the Lion Tower, whence its name was derived and the saying arose, "seeing the lions," for a visit to the Tower. Where the wooden gate now stands, there was a small work called the Conning Gate. It marked the boundaries of

was originally built by Henry III, but has been entirely refaced. Through its archway we reach the stone bridge, which had formerly in the centre a drawbridge of wood. We next reach...

the great Gatehouse of the Outer Ward. It is in part the work of Henry III, and in part that of Richard II. Observe the vaulting and the dark recesses on the southern side. We pass on the left...

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....

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 (

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 whic

Its lower storey is the oldest building next to the Keep; it was, with the Lanthorn (rebuilt on the old foundation in 1884-5) and Cold Harbour Towers, part of the original Norman plan. The upper storey was rebuilt by Henry III, who made it the entrance to his palace on the east. The Great Hall, memorable as the scene of Anne Boleyn's trial, adjoined it, but was pulled down during the Commonwealth. In 1360 the records of the kingdom, which had previously been kept in the White Tower, were removed

The visitor who has obtained a ticket passes up a short stair and finds himself in a well-lighted circular apartment in the Wakefield Tower. The deep window recess opposite the door was fitted up as a small chapel, with Aumbry, Piscina, and Sedilia. Tradition says that Henry VI used it for his devotions when a prisoner in the Tower, and was here murdered. In the centre, in a large double case, are arranged the splendid objects which form the English Regalia. The following are the most remarkable

or Keep, the oldest part of the whole fortress. White Tower. Plan of Middle Floor. The Conqueror, before he entered London, formed a camp, eastward of the city, and probably on part of the ground now occupied by the Tower. Immediately after his coronation he commenced the works here. At first, no doubt, they consisted of a ditch and palisade, and were formed partly on the lower bastions of the old City Wall, first built by the Romans, and rebuilt in 885 by King Alfred. The work of building the K

The chapel is the largest and most complete now remaining in any Norman castle, and must have seen the devotions of William the Conqueror and his family. It is 55 feet 6 inches long by 31 feet wide, and 32 feet high, and is vaulted with a plain arch. There are four massive columns on either side and four in the apse. The south aisle, as we have seen, communicated with the palace, and an upper aisle, or gallery, similarly opened into the...

of the White Tower, which we reach by a circuitous route through a passage round the walls, only wide enough for one person at a time, and a circular, or newel, stair in the north-east turret, gaining at every turn glimpses of the extensive stores of small arms. The second floor is divided into two large apartments, not reckoning the chapel; in the eastern wall of the smaller or Banqueting Chamber, is a fire-place, the only one till recently discovered in any Norman Keep. A second and third have

In connection with the Armouries, it should be noted that the present collection of arms and armour had its origin in that formed at Greenwich by King Henry VIII, who received many presents of this nature from the Emperor Maximilian and others. He also obtained from the Emperor several skilled armourers, who worked in his pay and wore his livery. English iron in former days was so inferior, or the art of working it was so little known, that even as far back as the days of Richard II German and I

The Waterloo Barracks are opposite, built in 1845 on the site of storehouses burnt in 1841. The building of similar character to the right is the Officers' Quarters: between the two a glimpse is obtained of the Martin or Brick Tower, whence Blood stole the crown in 1671. Observe, on the left, the extensive collection of cannons of all ages and countries, including triple guns taken from the French, of the time of Louis XIV, and some curious and grotesque mortars from India. Observe, on the right

is on the west side of Tower Green, facing the White Tower, and is on the inner wall between the Bell Tower on the south and the Devereux Tower on the north, being connected with both by a walk along the parapet. Its present name probably refers to the residence in it as a prisoner of Thomas, third Earl of Warwick, of the Beauchamp family, who was attainted under Richard II in 1397, but restored to his honours and liberty two years later under Henry IV. It is curious that the most interesting as

now called the King's House. The Hall door, where a sentry stands, is the same through which Lord Nithisdale escaped in female dress, the night before he was to have been beheaded, 1716. Some parts of the house are of great antiquity, among them the rooms in the Bell Tower, those on the upper storey which open on the leads and the rampart known as The Prisoners' Walk, and the Council Room, a handsome apartment containing a curious monument of the Gunpowder Plot. In this room Guy Fawkes and his a