New armories
The New Armories , built as the New Storehouse , are a building in the fortress of the Tower of London . The warehouse building was constructed by the Board of Ordnance from 1663 to 1664 . It is the only surviving Board storage building in the Tower and believed to be the oldest surviving Board of Ordnance building in the UK.
The U-shaped building is made of bright red brick, has two floors and a two-story attic. The construction work took place under the direction of the carpenter John Scott and the mason Thomas Norfolk. The column-supported entrance area dates from the 1950s when the building was converted into a museum. On the outside, in the original half-timbered structure, there is an ornamental gable originally from the Grand Storehouse . The pediment, made by John Young Jun. 1691, shows the coat of arms of the Boards of Ordnance along with flags and weapons.
Three years after the start of the Stuart restoration , they also began to restore the tower and to adapt it to the wishes of their time. The first of various construction projects was the construction of a new warehouse in the tower for weapons and supplies. The preparatory work began in July 1663 with the construction of a paved path to the later building, and in the fall of 1664 the weapons were moved from the White Tower to the New Armories.
When Samuel Pepys visited the newly built warehouse in November 1664 together with the king and other dignitaries, he certified the tower with the new building a “noble sight.” The New Armories were just one of the numerous warehouse buildings of the Boards of Ordnance that were based on the fortress grounds. However, it was the first of its kind and is the only one that has survived. In the 20th century, the Royal Armories exhibited parts of their collection here. When the collection moved to Leeds, the New Armories became free again in 1996. Since the end of the 1990s, it has housed the tower's restaurant and café, as well as conference and party halls that can be rented by external parties. The kitchens are located in the casemates of the outer wall.
literature
- Graham Keevill and Steve Kelly: The Tower of London New Armories Project, Oxford Archeology Unit 2006 ISBN 978-0904220360
Web links
Remarks
- ^ A b c d Edward Impey, Geoffrey Parnell: The Tower of London. The official illustrated history. Merrell, London 2000, ISBN 1-85894-106-7 , p. 64
- ^ John Charlton (ed.): The Tower of London. Its Buildings and Institutions. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1978, ISBN 0-11-670347-4 , p. 371
- ↑ Stuart Page: The New Armories, HM Tower of London ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 27.5 " N , 0 ° 4 ′ 30.8" W.