White Tower (Tower of London)
Encyclopedia
The White Tower is a central tower, the old keep
, at the Tower of London
.
records that Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester
, oversaw the building work under instruction from William the Conqueror. Dendrochronological
evidence suggests construction of the White Tower began in 1075–1079. The archaeology of the standing building suggestst there was a pause in construction between 1080 and 1090–1093, although it is unknown why. Gundulf did more than just oversee work and was a skilled architect. Rochester's castle
and cathedral
were rebuilt under his auspices. As the main castle in England's capital, the Tower of London was an important royal building. The keep built by Gundulf bears testament to this as it was one of the largest in Christendom.
The White Tower was multi-purpose. It was the castle's strongest point military yet provided accommodation fit for the king and his representatives. In Norman architecture
the keep was a symbol of a lord's power. The White Tower was probably complete by 1100 at the latest, at which point it was used to imprison Ranulf Flambard
, Bishop of Durham. It was probably during Henry II
's reign (1154–1189) that a forebuilding was added to the south side of the tower to provide extra defences to the entrance, but it has not survived. Henry III's
relations with his barons were uneasy, and in the 1220s and 1230s he enhanced the castle's defences and domestic buildings. Though the work he started may not have been finished within his lifetime, he extended the castle to the north and east, building a new stone wall to enclose the castle. A timber gallery was added to the top of the White Tower, projecting beyond its walls to better defend the base of the tower. Henry also undertook maintenance of the White Tower and it was during his reign that the tradition of whitewashing the building began. In March 1240 the Keeper of the Works at the Tower of London was ordered "to have the Great Tower whitened both inside and out". Later that year the king wrote to the Keeper, commanding that the White Tower's lead guttering should be extended with the effect that "the wall of the tower ...newly whitened, may be in no danger of perishing or falling outwards through the trickling of the rain". Henry did not explain his order to whitewash the keep, but may have been influenced by contemporary fashion in Europe to paint prestigious buildings white. He also added decoration to the chapel in the keep, adding stained glass, statues, and paintings.
Activity at the castle in the early 14th century declined relative to previous periods. Though the Tower of London was still occasionally used as a residence, by the 1320s the chapel in the White Tower was used to store records. This marked the beginning of the castle's diminishing role as a royal residence. The records were briefly removed from the White Tower in 1360 to accommodate the captive French king, John II
. It may have been during the reign of Edward III
(1327–1377) that a building abutting the south side of the White Tower was created. Built as storage, it may have been part of Edward's building programme at the Tower of London which saw its role as a military store come to the fore. The structure no longer survives, but is recorded on plans from 1597 and 1717.
Richard II
was imprisoned at the Tower of London and abdicated there in 1399; according to tradition, the event took place in the White Tower. In the 1490s a new floor was added to the White Tower, creating extra storage. Architecturally virtually no trace remains of the White Tower's forebuilding, although it appears in a manuscript drawing circa
1500 depicting the imprisonment of Charles, Duke of Orléans and was recorded in a plan of 1597. It was demolished in 1674. On 17 June that year, during the course of the demolition, bones belonging to two children were discovered beneath the stairs in the forebuilding. It was assumed that they belonged to the Princes in the Tower
. The remains were re-interred in Westminster Abbey
. The story of the Princes in the Tower is one of the most infamous stories related to the castle. After the death of Edward IV
his 12-year-old son was crowned as Edward V. Richard Duke of Gloucester
was declared Lord Protector
while the prince was too young to rule. Edward was confined to the Tower of London along with his younger brother, Richard. The Duke of Gloucester was proclaimed King Richard III in July. The princes were last seen in public in June 1483; the most likely reason for their disappearance is that they were murdered late in the summer of 1483.
By the Tudor period
, the science of fortification had change to deal with powerful cannons. The new designs, with low angled bastion
s, were not emulated at the Tower of London. All the same, some adaptations to use cannon were made; the changes included adding a timber platform to the top of the White Tower for cannon emplacements. The weight of the guns damaged the roof so that it had to be reinforced. The one documented use of these cannon was during Wyatt's rebellion
in 1554 and they were ineffective. The Office of Ordnance
and Office of Armoury were head-quartered at the Tower Tower of London until the 17th century. Their presence influenced activity at the castle as led to it becoming the country's most important military store. In the 1560s two armouries were created in the White Tower and by the reign of Elizabeth I
(1558–1603) most of the gunpowder at the Tower was stored in the White Tower. By the last quarter of the 16th century the castle was a tourist attraction with visitors allowed inside despite its use by the Offices of Ordnance and Armoury. Its role in providing storage directly impacted on the White Tower's structure and posts were added to support the floors. In 1636 a hole was knocked through the White Tower's north wall to ease the movement of provisions. In 1639–1640 the White Tower's external appearance was changed, with much of its facing material replaced.
In 1640 Charles I
ordered that the Tower of London should be prepared for conflict. Platforms for cannons were built and 21 installed on top of the White Tower with three additional mortars
. Despite the new defences the Parliamentarians
captured the Tower of London without the cannon being used. In January 1642, Charles I attempted to arrest five Members of Parliament. When this failed he fled the city, and Parliament retaliated by removing Sir John Byron
, the Lieutenant of the Tower. The Trained Bands had switched sides, and now supported Parliament; together with the London citizenry, they blockaded the Tower. With permission from the King, Byron relinquished control of the Tower. Parliament replaced Byron with a man of their own choosing, Sir John Conyers
. By the time the English Civil War
broke out in November 1642, the Tower of London was already in Parliament's control. By 1657 the entire building apart from the chapel was being used to store gunpowder. Storing both gunpowder and government records in the White Tower was not ideal, and it there were repeated suggestions in 1620, 1718, and 1832 to move the gunpowder to a new location, although the proposals were unsuccessful.
By 1661 plans had been proposed to clear an area 6 metres (19.7 ft) around the White Tower to safeguard the dangerous material inside. Nothing was done until after the Great Fire of London
in 1666. During the fire it was feared the flames might reach the castle, specifically the White Tower, highlighting the need for safety measures. In the following years a protective wall was built around the White Tower. In the 1670s buildings that had accumulated around the White Tower to provide storage for the Offices of Ordnance and Armoury were pulled down. After this, repairs were carried out on the face of the White Tower. A staircase was also added on the south face, allowing direct access to the records in the chapel.
While the Tower of London had been open to visitors since for centuries, it was not until the early 19th century that alterations were made explicitly for visitors. In 1825 a building, the New Horse Armoury, to contain effigies of England's kings was constructed against the south of the White Tower. The Gothic revival
design of the structure – one of the first purpose-built museums in England – was widely reviled. By the end of the century the effigies and Queen Elizabeth's Armoury were distributed in displays in the White Tower. In the mid-19th century, under the encouragement of Prince Albert, Anthony Salvin
undertook a programme of restoration at the castle. In 1858 the White Tower's roof was reinforced with iron girders. On 26 January 1885 a bomb in the White Tower damaged some of the displays.
The roofs of the White Tower and its turrets were repaired in the 1960s and 1970s. Accumulated dirt was washed from the exterior and the floors inside replaced. Also in this period a staircase was added against the south face of the keep, reopening access through the original entrance. In 1974, there was a bomb explosion in the Mortar
Room in the White Tower, leaving one person dead and 35 injured. No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but the police investigated suspicions that the IRA
was behind it. In 1988, the Tower of London as a whole was added to the UNESCO
list of World Heritage Site
s, in recognition of its global importance and to help conserve and protect the site. The Tower of London is in the care of Historic Royal Palaces
, a charity, and between 2008 and 2011 a £2 million conservation programme was undertaken at the White Tower. Repairs were carried out and the keep was cleaned, removing pollution that was causing damage to the structure. The White Tower is a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. The Royal Armouries
still have displays at the White Tower.
The White Tower is a keep
(also known as a donjon), which was often the strongest structure in a medieval castle, and contained lodgings suitable for the lord—in this case the king or his representative. According to military historian Allen Brown, "The great tower [White Tower] was also, by virtue of its strength, majesty and lordly accommodation, the donjon par excellence". One of the largest keeps in the Christian world
, the White Tower has been described as "the most complete eleventh-century palace in Europe". The influences on the White Tower's design are unclear. Magnates in northern France had been building stone keeps since the mid-9th century so the general design was well-established. More specifically the keep of Château d'Ivry-la-Bataille, built around 1000, may have been a particularly prominent influence as it included a semi-circular projection in one corner. Allen Brown and P. Curnow suggested that the design may have been based on the now vanished 10th-century keep of Château de Rouen, which belonged to the Dukes of Normandy.
At the western corners are square towers, while to the north-east a round tower houses a spiral staircase. At the south-east corner is a larger semi-circular projection which accommodates the apse
of the chapel. Excluding its projecting corner towers, the keep measures 36 by at the base, and rises to a height of 27 metre at the southern battlements where the ground is lower. The structure was originally three-storeys high, comprising a basement floor, an entrance level, and an upper floor. The entrance, as is usual in Norman
keeps, was above ground (in this case on the south face) and accessed via a wooden staircase which could be removed in the event of an attack. The forebuilding added in the 12th century no longer survives. As the building was intended to be a comfortable residence as well as a stronghold, latrines were built into the walls, and four fireplaces provided warmth.
The main building material is Kent
ish rag-stone
, though some local mudstone
was also used. Although little of it survives, Caen stone
was imported from northern France to provide details in the Tower's facing, much of it replaced by Portland stone
in the 17th and 18th centuries. As most of the Tower's windows were enlarged in the 18th century, only two original – albeit restored – examples remain, in the south wall at gallery level. The White Tower was terraced into the side of a mound, so the northern side of the basement is partially below ground level.
used for storage. One of the rooms contained a well. Although the layout has remained the same since the tower's construction, the interior of the basement dates mostly from the 18th century when the floor was lowered and the pre-existing timber vaults
were replaced with brick counterparts. The basement is lit through small slits. The sole access to the floor was via the north-east staircase turret.
The entrance floor was probably intended for the use of the Constable of the Tower
and other important officials. The south entrance was blocked during the 17th century, and not reopened until 1973. Those heading to the upper floor had to pass through a smaller chamber to the east, also connected to the entrance floor. The crypt
of St John's Chapel
occupied the south-east corner and was accessible only from the eastern chamber. There is a recess in the north wall of the crypt; according to Geoffrey Parnell, Keeper of the Tower History at the Royal Armouries, "the windowless form and restricted access, suggest that it was designed as a strong-room for safekeeping of royal treasures and important documents".
The upper floor contained a grand hall in the west and residential chamber in the east both originally open to the roof and surrounded by a gallery built into the wall and St John's Chapel in the south-east. The top floor was added in the 15th century, along with the present roof. The absence of domestic amenities such as fireplaces suggest it was intended for use as storage rather than accommodation. In the 17th century lead cisterns were installed on top of the White Tower.
The semi-circular projection in the south-east corner to accommodate St John's Chapel is almost unparalleled in castle architecture. The only other keep in England with a similar projection is that of Colchester Castle
, the largest in England. St John's Chapel was not part of the White Tower's original design, as the apsidal projection was built after the basement walls. Due to changes in function and design since the tower's construction, except for the chapel little is left of the original interior. The chapel's current bare and unadorned appearance is reminiscent of how it would have been in the Norman period. In the 13th century, during Henry III's reign, the chapel was decorated with such ornamentation as a gold-painted cross, and stained glass
windows that depicted the Virgin Mary and Holy Trinity.
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
, at the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
.
History
The castle which later became known as the Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror in 1066. It began as a timber fortification enclosed by a palisade. In the next decade work began on the White Tower, the great stone keep that still dominates the castle today. The precise date of the White Tower's foundation is unknown, and it is also uncertain how long building took. It is traditionally held that construction began in 1078. This is because the Textus RoffensisTextus Roffensis
The Textus Roffensis, or in full, Textus de Ecclesia Roffensi per Ernulphum episcopum , refers to a manuscript in which two originally separate manuscripts written about the same time, between 1122 and 1124, are bound together...
records that Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester
Bishop of Rochester
The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the west of the county of Kent and is centred in the city of Rochester where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
, oversaw the building work under instruction from William the Conqueror. Dendrochronological
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
evidence suggests construction of the White Tower began in 1075–1079. The archaeology of the standing building suggestst there was a pause in construction between 1080 and 1090–1093, although it is unknown why. Gundulf did more than just oversee work and was a skilled architect. Rochester's castle
Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a...
and cathedral
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. The bishopric is second oldest in England after Canterbury...
were rebuilt under his auspices. As the main castle in England's capital, the Tower of London was an important royal building. The keep built by Gundulf bears testament to this as it was one of the largest in Christendom.
The White Tower was multi-purpose. It was the castle's strongest point military yet provided accommodation fit for the king and his representatives. In Norman architecture
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
the keep was a symbol of a lord's power. The White Tower was probably complete by 1100 at the latest, at which point it was used to imprison Ranulf Flambard
Ranulf Flambard
Ranulf Flambard was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England...
, Bishop of Durham. It was probably during Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
's reign (1154–1189) that a forebuilding was added to the south side of the tower to provide extra defences to the entrance, but it has not survived. Henry III's
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
relations with his barons were uneasy, and in the 1220s and 1230s he enhanced the castle's defences and domestic buildings. Though the work he started may not have been finished within his lifetime, he extended the castle to the north and east, building a new stone wall to enclose the castle. A timber gallery was added to the top of the White Tower, projecting beyond its walls to better defend the base of the tower. Henry also undertook maintenance of the White Tower and it was during his reign that the tradition of whitewashing the building began. In March 1240 the Keeper of the Works at the Tower of London was ordered "to have the Great Tower whitened both inside and out". Later that year the king wrote to the Keeper, commanding that the White Tower's lead guttering should be extended with the effect that "the wall of the tower ...newly whitened, may be in no danger of perishing or falling outwards through the trickling of the rain". Henry did not explain his order to whitewash the keep, but may have been influenced by contemporary fashion in Europe to paint prestigious buildings white. He also added decoration to the chapel in the keep, adding stained glass, statues, and paintings.
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
. It may have been during the reign of Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
(1327–1377) that a building abutting the south side of the White Tower was created. Built as storage, it may have been part of Edward's building programme at the Tower of London which saw its role as a military store come to the fore. The structure no longer survives, but is recorded on plans from 1597 and 1717.
Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
was imprisoned at the Tower of London and abdicated there in 1399; according to tradition, the event took place in the White Tower. In the 1490s a new floor was added to the White Tower, creating extra storage. Architecturally virtually no trace remains of the White Tower's forebuilding, although it appears in a manuscript drawing circa
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
1500 depicting the imprisonment of Charles, Duke of Orléans and was recorded in a plan of 1597. It was demolished in 1674. On 17 June that year, during the course of the demolition, bones belonging to two children were discovered beneath the stairs in the forebuilding. It was assumed that they belonged to the Princes in the Tower
Princes in the Tower
The Princes in the Tower is a term which refers to Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. The two brothers were the only sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville alive at the time of their father's death...
. The remains were re-interred in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. The story of the Princes in the Tower is one of the most infamous stories related to the castle. After the death of Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
his 12-year-old son was crowned as Edward V. Richard Duke of Gloucester
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
was declared Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
while the prince was too young to rule. Edward was confined to the Tower of London along with his younger brother, Richard. The Duke of Gloucester was proclaimed King Richard III in July. The princes were last seen in public in June 1483; the most likely reason for their disappearance is that they were murdered late in the summer of 1483.
By the Tudor period
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
, the science of fortification had change to deal with powerful cannons. The new designs, with low angled bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s, were not emulated at the Tower of London. All the same, some adaptations to use cannon were made; the changes included adding a timber platform to the top of the White Tower for cannon emplacements. The weight of the guns damaged the roof so that it had to be reinforced. The one documented use of these cannon was during Wyatt's rebellion
Wyatt's rebellion
Wyatt's Rebellion was a popular uprising in England in 1554, named after Thomas Wyatt the younger, one of its leaders. The rebellion arose out of concern over Queen Mary I's determination to marry Philip II of Spain, which was an unpopular policy with the English...
in 1554 and they were ineffective. The Office of Ordnance
Board of Ordnance
The Board of Ordnance was a British government body responsible for the supply of armaments and munitions to the Royal Navy and British Army. It was also responsible for providing artillery trains for armies and maintaining coastal fortresses and, later, management of the artillery and engineer...
and Office of Armoury were head-quartered at the Tower Tower of London until the 17th century. Their presence influenced activity at the castle as led to it becoming the country's most important military store. In the 1560s two armouries were created in the White Tower and by the reign of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
(1558–1603) most of the gunpowder at the Tower was stored in the White Tower. By the last quarter of the 16th century the castle was a tourist attraction with visitors allowed inside despite its use by the Offices of Ordnance and Armoury. Its role in providing storage directly impacted on the White Tower's structure and posts were added to support the floors. In 1636 a hole was knocked through the White Tower's north wall to ease the movement of provisions. In 1639–1640 the White Tower's external appearance was changed, with much of its facing material replaced.
In 1640 Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
ordered that the Tower of London should be prepared for conflict. Platforms for cannons were built and 21 installed on top of the White Tower with three additional mortars
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
. Despite the new defences the Parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
captured the Tower of London without the cannon being used. In January 1642, Charles I attempted to arrest five Members of Parliament. When this failed he fled the city, and Parliament retaliated by removing Sir John Byron
John Byron, 1st Baron Byron
John Byron, 1st Baron Byron was an English Royalist and supporter of Charles I during the English Civil War.-Life:...
, the Lieutenant of the Tower. The Trained Bands had switched sides, and now supported Parliament; together with the London citizenry, they blockaded the Tower. With permission from the King, Byron relinquished control of the Tower. Parliament replaced Byron with a man of their own choosing, Sir John Conyers
Conyers Baronets
The Baronetcy of Conyers of Horden was created in the Baronetage of England on 14 July 1628 for John Conyers of Horden, County Durham.Between 1099 and 1133 the then Bishop of Durham, Ralph Flambard, granted lands at Sockburn, in County Durham and Hutton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, to a Roger...
. By the time the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
broke out in November 1642, the Tower of London was already in Parliament's control. By 1657 the entire building apart from the chapel was being used to store gunpowder. Storing both gunpowder and government records in the White Tower was not ideal, and it there were repeated suggestions in 1620, 1718, and 1832 to move the gunpowder to a new location, although the proposals were unsuccessful.
By 1661 plans had been proposed to clear an area 6 metres (19.7 ft) around the White Tower to safeguard the dangerous material inside. Nothing was done until after the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666. During the fire it was feared the flames might reach the castle, specifically the White Tower, highlighting the need for safety measures. In the following years a protective wall was built around the White Tower. In the 1670s buildings that had accumulated around the White Tower to provide storage for the Offices of Ordnance and Armoury were pulled down. After this, repairs were carried out on the face of the White Tower. A staircase was also added on the south face, allowing direct access to the records in the chapel.
While the Tower of London had been open to visitors since for centuries, it was not until the early 19th century that alterations were made explicitly for visitors. In 1825 a building, the New Horse Armoury, to contain effigies of England's kings was constructed against the south of the White Tower. The Gothic revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
design of the structure – one of the first purpose-built museums in England – was widely reviled. By the end of the century the effigies and Queen Elizabeth's Armoury were distributed in displays in the White Tower. In the mid-19th century, under the encouragement of Prince Albert, Anthony Salvin
Anthony Salvin
Anthony Salvin was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations...
undertook a programme of restoration at the castle. In 1858 the White Tower's roof was reinforced with iron girders. On 26 January 1885 a bomb in the White Tower damaged some of the displays.
The roofs of the White Tower and its turrets were repaired in the 1960s and 1970s. Accumulated dirt was washed from the exterior and the floors inside replaced. Also in this period a staircase was added against the south face of the keep, reopening access through the original entrance. In 1974, there was a bomb explosion in the Mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
Room in the White Tower, leaving one person dead and 35 injured. No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but the police investigated suspicions that the IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
was behind it. In 1988, the Tower of London as a whole was added to the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
list of World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
s, in recognition of its global importance and to help conserve and protect the site. The Tower of London is in the care of Historic Royal Palaces
Historic Royal Palaces
Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity created in 1998 to manage Britain's unoccupied royal palaces. These are:* The Tower of London* Hampton Court Palace* Kensington Palace - the state rooms only.* Banqueting House* Kew Palace...
, a charity, and between 2008 and 2011 a £2 million conservation programme was undertaken at the White Tower. Repairs were carried out and the keep was cleaned, removing pollution that was causing damage to the structure. The White Tower is a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. The Royal Armouries
Royal Armouries
The Royal Armouries is the United Kingdom's National Museum of Arms and Armour. It is the United Kingdom's oldest museum, and one of the oldest museums in the world. It is also one of the largest collections of arms and armour in the world, comprising the UK's National Collection of Arms and...
still have displays at the White Tower.
Architecture
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
(also known as a donjon), which was often the strongest structure in a medieval castle, and contained lodgings suitable for the lord—in this case the king or his representative. According to military historian Allen Brown, "The great tower [White Tower] was also, by virtue of its strength, majesty and lordly accommodation, the donjon par excellence". One of the largest keeps in the Christian world
Christendom
Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...
, the White Tower has been described as "the most complete eleventh-century palace in Europe". The influences on the White Tower's design are unclear. Magnates in northern France had been building stone keeps since the mid-9th century so the general design was well-established. More specifically the keep of Château d'Ivry-la-Bataille, built around 1000, may have been a particularly prominent influence as it included a semi-circular projection in one corner. Allen Brown and P. Curnow suggested that the design may have been based on the now vanished 10th-century keep of Château de Rouen, which belonged to the Dukes of Normandy.
At the western corners are square towers, while to the north-east a round tower houses a spiral staircase. At the south-east corner is a larger semi-circular projection which accommodates the apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
of the chapel. Excluding its projecting corner towers, the keep measures 36 by at the base, and rises to a height of 27 metre at the southern battlements where the ground is lower. The structure was originally three-storeys high, comprising a basement floor, an entrance level, and an upper floor. The entrance, as is usual in Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
keeps, was above ground (in this case on the south face) and accessed via a wooden staircase which could be removed in the event of an attack. The forebuilding added in the 12th century no longer survives. As the building was intended to be a comfortable residence as well as a stronghold, latrines were built into the walls, and four fireplaces provided warmth.
The main building material is Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
ish rag-stone
Rag-stone
Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones which are quarried in thin pieces, such as the Horsham sandstone, Yorkshire stone, the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. By rag-stone, near London, is meant an excellent material from the...
, though some local mudstone
Mudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
was also used. Although little of it survives, Caen stone
Caen stone
Caen stone or Pierre de Caen, is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen.The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ago...
was imported from northern France to provide details in the Tower's facing, much of it replaced by Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
in the 17th and 18th centuries. As most of the Tower's windows were enlarged in the 18th century, only two original – albeit restored – examples remain, in the south wall at gallery level. The White Tower was terraced into the side of a mound, so the northern side of the basement is partially below ground level.
Interior
The purpose of each room is interpreted based primarily on its design. As a result there can be some ambiguity in what individual chambers were used for. Each floor was divided into three chambers, the largest in the west, a smaller room in the north-east, and the chapel taking up the entrance and upper floors of the south-east. As was typical of most keeps, the bottom floor was an undercroftUndercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.- History :While some...
used for storage. One of the rooms contained a well. Although the layout has remained the same since the tower's construction, the interior of the basement dates mostly from the 18th century when the floor was lowered and the pre-existing timber vaults
Vault (architecture)
A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...
were replaced with brick counterparts. The basement is lit through small slits. The sole access to the floor was via the north-east staircase turret.
The entrance floor was probably intended for the use of the Constable of the Tower
Constable of the Tower
The Constable of the Tower is the most senior appointment at the Tower of London. In the middle ages a constable was the person in charge of a castle when the owner - the king or a nobleman - was not in residence...
and other important officials. The south entrance was blocked during the 17th century, and not reopened until 1973. Those heading to the upper floor had to pass through a smaller chamber to the east, also connected to the entrance floor. The crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
of St John's Chapel
St John's Chapel, London
St. John's Chapel is located in the Tower of London. Dating from 1080, this complete 11th-century church is the oldest church in London.A Romanesque chapel, St. John's is on the second floor of the White Tower, which was built in 1077–97 as a keep or citadel, the oldest part of William the...
occupied the south-east corner and was accessible only from the eastern chamber. There is a recess in the north wall of the crypt; according to Geoffrey Parnell, Keeper of the Tower History at the Royal Armouries, "the windowless form and restricted access, suggest that it was designed as a strong-room for safekeeping of royal treasures and important documents".
The upper floor contained a grand hall in the west and residential chamber in the east both originally open to the roof and surrounded by a gallery built into the wall and St John's Chapel in the south-east. The top floor was added in the 15th century, along with the present roof. The absence of domestic amenities such as fireplaces suggest it was intended for use as storage rather than accommodation. In the 17th century lead cisterns were installed on top of the White Tower.
St John's Chapel
Colchester Castle
Colchester Castle in Colchester, Essex is an example of a largely complete Norman castle. It is a Grade I listed building.-Construction:At one and a half times the size of the Tower of London's White Tower, Colchester's keep is the largest ever built in Britain and the largest surviving example in...
, the largest in England. St John's Chapel was not part of the White Tower's original design, as the apsidal projection was built after the basement walls. Due to changes in function and design since the tower's construction, except for the chapel little is left of the original interior. The chapel's current bare and unadorned appearance is reminiscent of how it would have been in the Norman period. In the 13th century, during Henry III's reign, the chapel was decorated with such ornamentation as a gold-painted cross, and stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
windows that depicted the Virgin Mary and Holy Trinity.