Wardrobe Tower
The Wardrobe Tower was a tower in the fortress of the Tower of London . The tower, which was probably built in the 1190s, was one of the structures that delimited the innermost fortress ring. It marks its northeast corner and is only preserved today as a ruin . It is named after the wardrobe, the personal household of an English king, whose objects and utensils, including the crown jewels , were temporarily stored in the tower. The remains that still exist today are a little over 2 meters high and consist of natural stone and brick .
The Wardrobe Tower was created when the Tower of London began to transform into a more complex fortress. If it had previously been a large keep with a surrounding wall, the Wardrobe Tower built under Richard the Lionheart was part of fortifications that divided the Tower of London into an inner and an outer fortress ring. The Wardrobe Tower stood on the north-eastern boundary of the inner and outer ring.
Originally, a wall connected the White Tower in the center of the fortress with the Wardrobe Tower. This was torn down in 1879. The Wardrobe Tower was located where the old Roman city wall of Londinium still stood in the 12th century . Its semicircular shape is due to the fact that the tower was built on one of the typical Roman bastions of the city wall. In the late 17th century a turret with a clock was added, but it was torn down again in 1715 due to static uncertainty.
Over the centuries of the tower's development, the wardrobe tower has been completely incorporated into other buildings. It wasn't until the late 19th century that the architect John Taylor continued Anthony Salvin's project to give the tower a more medieval look again that the remains of the Wardrobe Tower reappeared. Taylor had the Horse Armory that was directly adjacent to the White Tower demolished in order to present it again as a solitaire. At the extensions at the southeast end of the White Tower, to the surprise of the builder, remnants of the Wardrobe Tower appeared again, which were damaged during the demolition work. It was only in public protest that Taylor could be dissuaded from tearing down these remains of the building as well. One of the oldest buildings in the tower barely escaped the re-medieval design of the tower.
The tower served as an office and warehouse for the nearby White Tower. In the times of Heinrich III. the wardrobe tower housed the financial administration of the constable of the tower . Walter Raleigh spent the beginning of his detention in the Tower of London in the Wardrobe Tower before he was transferred to the Bloody Tower.
The old course of the fortress wall is marked on the ground near the tower. During excavations, remnants of sandstone walls were found that were part of a 3.5 meter long and 4.5 meter high wall.
Remarks
- ↑ Parnell p. 10
- ↑ Parnell p. 15
- ↑ Parnell, p. 105
- ^ Sarah Valente Kettler, Carole Trimble: The amateur historian's guide to medieval and Tudor London, 1066-1600 Capital Books, 2001 ISBN 1-892123-32-0 , p. 51
literature
- Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner: London 1, The city of London. Penguin, London 1997. ISBN 0-14-071092-2 , p. 367
- Geoffrey Parnell: The Tower of London. BT Batsford / English Heritage ISBN 0-7134-6864-5
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 28.4 " N , 0 ° 4 ′ 32.3" W.