Part 2 (1/2)

The advantages of the site selected for the Toere considerable, the utilization of the existing Ro it from the city, while it was so placed on the river as to command the approach to the Saxon trade harbour at the mouth of the Wallbrook, then literally the port of London, and with easy access to the open country should a retreat becoretted that London was omitted froht have furnished us with so of the Tower, and perhaps revealed in one of those brief but pithy sentences, pregnant with suggestion, some such ruthless destruction of houses as took place in Oxford and elsewhere[8]

in order to clear a site for the King's new castle Unless the site were then vacant, or perhaps only occupied by a vineyard (for these areat Holborn and Westminster),[9]

some such clearance must obviously have been made for even the first teh contemporary history is silent as to this The _Saxon Chronicle_ tells us that ”upon the night of August the 15th, 1077, was London burned so extensively as it never was before since it was founded,”[10] which may have determined Williaed and perland and crushed the rebellions of his turbulent baronage

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TOWER OF LONDON ABOUT 1597]

Although the art of the ineer was then in its infancy, the Conqueror seems to have selected as his architect one already famous for his skill Gundulf, then just appointed Bishop of Rochester, was no ordinary e_ of Archbishop Lanfranc, by who e to the Holy Land, and doubtless profited by his travels and the opportunity afforded of inspecting soineers Although Gundulf had rebuilt the cathedral of Rochester, to which he added the large detached belfry tower that still bears his name, built other church towers at Dartford, and St Leonard's, West Malling (long erroneously supposed to have been an early Norman castle keep),[11] and founded at the latter place an abbey of Benedictine nuns, his reputation as an architect rests chiefly on his having designed the keep of the Tower of London (probably that of Colchester also), and built the stone wall round the new castle at Rochester for Willia the erection of London keep, Gundulf lodged in the house of one Eadmer Anhoende,[12] a citizen of London, probably a friend of the Bishop, for we find his naenerous donor to Gundulf's new cathedral at Rochester, where, by his will, he directed his own body and that of his wife to be interred, and to have an obit annually Gundulf's work therefore consisted of the great keep (afterwards called the White Tower), which he erected close to the line of the Roman city wall, and some fifteen or twenty feet within it At first this was probably (like its sister keep at Colchester) only enclosed by a shallow ditch and a high earthen bank, crowned by a stout ti two sides of its peried upon it at either end With the sole exception of Colchester keep, which, as will be seen froer, 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 ”

Diath (on South Side) over all 128 ” 153 ”

Nuht of Ter Stories 42 ” 32 feet Thickness of Walls 15 ” 14 ”

Thanks to the drastic removals of recent years, the White Tower stands to-day very ular, but the north-east angle is capped by a projecting circular turret containing the great main staircase that ascends fro 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 e circular turret of two stories, that rises soles terular turrets about fourteen feet square, and twenty-seven feet high above the roof The walls are at the base so 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 cha froain 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 baseround 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 of the basement have a modern plain brick barrel vault The well, a plain ashlar pipe six feet in diale of the floor in the western chainal stone barrel vault This forms the sub-crypt of the crypt below St John's Chapel, and is lighted, or at least its darkness is le small loop in the east wall It is non as ”Little Ease,” and is said to have served as the prison of Guy Fawkes The basement chambers have boldly sloped recesses in the walls, with sh up in their heads, which afford the ht; but as they were only used for stores, this was not of great i by the main staircase to the second floor, the same subdivision into three chaer loops, that have been converted into larger s at the time of Sir Christopher Wren's renovations in 1663 The crypt of the chapel opens froular dark cell eight feet wide and ten feet long, in the thickness of the wall, in which Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have once been ile a latrine, or garderobe, in the thickness of the wall At the west end of its south face is a large original opening, with parallel sides, having niches in them The masonry shows traces of where the arch and door jaesubstituted, probably during Wren's alterations There is little rooinal door of entrance_, placed, as is usual, soround, and probably reached by an external flight of steps, now re to that of Rochester keep[13]

Proceeding by the main stair to the third floor, we enter first what is known as the ”Banqueting Hall,” which is lighted by four large s, and has a fireplace in its east wall, with two latrine chah a low doorway in the partition wall, we enter the great western chamber, which has a fireplace in its all, a latrine in its north wall, and is lighted by eight large o newel staircases in the western angles ascend to the battlee at the head of a s from a door in the wall on the floor below, formerly afforded a direct communication from the palace to the chapel of St John upon the third floor, without entering the keep At the foot of this stair, in the time of Charles II, soed in repairs, which were said to be those of the murdered Edward V and his brother the Duke of York These were transferred; by the King's instructions, to the vaults of West to the fourth floor, there are two large rooms separated by the cross-wall, the arcade of which was probably filled in ooden partitions The larger or western room is known as the ”Council Chamber,” and the other as the ”Royal Apart of the chapel, close under the flat, lead roof, there is a curious cell about seven feet high, lighted by sth of the chapel Formerly used as a prison, itvariations of heat and cold than the famous ”_Piombi_” of Venice

With the exception of the chapel, its crypt, and sub-crypt, which were vaulted throughout, all the floors were originally of wood, and were supported on double rows of stout oak posts, which in their turn sustained the , on the south face of the keep, was probably added by Henry II It survived until 1666, as it is shown in a view of the Tower executed by Hollar about that date; but it appears to have been removed prior to 1681

The chapel of St John is a fine example of early Norman ecclesiastical architecture It consists of a nave, with vaulted aisles, having an apsidal eastern termination It is covered by a plain barrel vault, and on the fourth floor level has a triforial gallery, also vaulted It is connected by two doors with the gallery in the thickness of the wall that surrounds this floor, from one of the s of which it is said that Bishop Ralph Flambard effected his remarkable escape

It is probable that at first (except the chapel, which was covered by its own independent roof) there were two separate high-pitched roofs, one covering each division, and not rising above the battlehting deck, for which reason it was carried round the triforiue additional roo the central wall a story, and superposing a flat, lead roof

The absence of privacy, fireplaces, and sanitary accohts froallery, h intolerable; nor could wooden screens, hangings, or charcoal brasiers have rendered it endurable It is not surprising, therefore, that under Henry III the palace was considerably enlarged, or that these chambers were abandoned by him for warmer quarters below, in the Lanthorn Tower ”k,” and its new turret ”J” although the chapel and council chamber continued to be used down to a e of Rochester by William Rufus in 1088, Gundulf had built a _stone_ wall round the new castle of Rochester This probablyto enclose the Tower of London with a similar wall, for the _Saxon Chronicle_ tells us that in 1091 ”a stone as being wrought about the Tower, a stone bridge across the Tha erected at Westrievously oppressed”[14]

Now, as Gundulf did not die until 1108, it is by nothe erection of these two great towers at London and Colchester,[15] he also constructed the stone wall round the former, for the chronicler says of him that ”in opere caementarii plurimum sciens et efficax erat”[16]

As it is on record that the smaller keep of Dover, built by Henry II

nearly a century later, was upwards of ten years in construction, while some additional time had been consumed--in the collection of materials and workmen--with the preliminary preparation of the site, it does not seereat Tower of London (honeycoes) could have been erected in a much shorter space of time When the ruder appliances of the earlier period are taken into account, such a keep could not have been built in a hurry, for tireat radually settle, and for the h preparations for its erection un as early as 1083, it seems more probable that the White Toas not commenced much before 1087, or co from FitzStephen's _Description of London_,[17] reat tempest of wind in the year 1091,” which, as I do not (with the conspicuous modesty of the late Professor Freeman) ”venture to _set aside_ the authority of the chronicles”[18] when they have the audacity to differ froround upon which to argue that not only was the White Tower then in course of erection, but that in that year the works were not in a very advanced state That it must have been co Henry I, on succeeding to the throne in August of that year, committed to the custody of William de Mandeville, then Constable of the Tower, his brother's corrupt minister, Ranulph (or Ralph) Flaly tells us that he was ordered[19] ”to be kept in fetters, and in the glooeon,” which must have been either ”Little Ease” or the s from the crypt of St John's Chapel, afterwards rendered fah

Although the great fortress-palace was to subsequently acquire a most sinister reputation as a state prison, yet the present is the first recorded instance of the coeon cells Subsequently, however, the severity of the bishop's iated, for the King ordered his a day for his h a prisoner, he was enabled to fare su rope having been secretly conveyed to him, concealed in a cask of wine, by one of his servants, he caused a plentiful banquet to be served up, to which he invited his keepers, and having intoxicated theree that they slept soundly, the bishop secured the cord to a allery in the keep, and, catching up his pastoral staff, began to lower hi a heavy, stout man, the rope severely lacerated his hands, and as it did not reach the ground he fell some feet and was severely bruised His trusty followers had horses in readiness, on one of which they mounted him The party fled to the coast, took shi+p, and crossed over to Nore with Duke Robert[20] After some time had elapsed, he contrived to land, when he regained his See of Durham, of which he coreat castle there Thefrom which he is supposed to have escaped is over sixty-five feet froround, and his evasion was evidently considered at the time a most audacious and reives a very detailed and circumstantial account of it