The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-04-22
Restoring the Tower of London.
London Times. February H.

l.
It may be safely said that NJ cIty IN the worl
possesses n monument equal in historic interes
% the Tower Of London. For 500 years as palace
fortress and prison. il has been continuously
Inhabited. Recent discoveries have justified th
ancient tradition that on this same site Their
stood an important Roman ratification and th,
facts stand proved that important Roman work.
occupied the spot tor thousand years or more
before Gunduif, the weeriug monk Of Bee, II
Normandy, whom the COnqueTor summoned tc
act a. hIs builder, laid one stone Of the great
white Tower on another Guudulf was said &c
have tempered bis cement with the blood oil
beasts, and To have watered with his tears the
theatre Of 80 many tragedies Probably he
pounded up the old red tiles and bricks OF the
Romans, and 80 gave TO his mortar the red color
which the common folk regarded with so much
awe.
Successive kings. notably William Rufus, who
- piled and shaved the people with tribute es-
pecially 90 spend about the Tower Of London and
the great Hall at Westminster. and Henry Ill
the hrst deviser Of Thames Embankment added
10 the Tower % LondJn - not without many
murmurings on the part Of their subjects, who
saw in the Tower standing menace to their
liberties
In the sixteenth century the Tower Of London,
with Its outer and inner balium, the great keep
OF the White Tower. and the grim portal OF the
Traitor . Cate, must have been boxed upon from
the river as n m1st imposing monument Of the
feudti system. UnhnpptlY. under the Stuarts
and their successor the gories Of the Tower were
suffered to decay. On the south side the inner
wall with the Lantern Tower became ruins, and
during the latter part Of the last century their
place was filed by huge and bideOus brick
building, with all the gnwieldy ugIiness Of
Thames street warehouse, by which the view Of
the Tower from the river was effectually blotted
out.
During the last twenty-five years better iudg-
ment and better taste hive been shown in the
treatmen. OF this great standing record Of the
history Of England. The Prince COnsOrt was one
Of the first TO take active interest in the an
tIquities and beauties Of tie place. Mr.. Salvin,
who died last year, and who only short time
before bis death visited the Tower in order to
the work which had been done and the dis
cOveries that had been made at the Cradle Tower
was called m as n consulting architect. Under
hIs advice the Chapel Of st. John in the White
Tower restored and is now perhaps the best
specimen Of Norman architecture in the king
dom, and the TuinOus tumble-dOwn Warders'
quarters were replaced by appropriate buildings
~ the style Of the Tud0rs. For some time, owing
to the pressure of work in other directions little
WIS done beyond mere maintenance and repair.
Six years ago, however, the work of restoration
was actively begun again. The Chapel of st.
Peter nd Vincula, the burial place OF Queen
Anne BOleyn, with other illustriOuS victims of
royal dspleasure or political necessity down to
the time Of the JacObite Lords of the '45, had
fallen into a most discreditable state of decay.
The interior was chOked by the uglIest OF modern
galleries, with tall unsightly pews sinking OF
the pavement Of the altar becoming more
and more apparent, and il became necessary to
take immediate steps to prevent the whole build
ing from falling into ruins. When this chapel
had been repaired ard purged Of the monstrosi-
.ics by which It was defed, the next work of i'm
pOrtance to be undertaken was the restoration
Of the outer wall on the south river side, to-
gether with the Well and Cradle Towers. This
has now been done, in the mean time certain
mean buildings on the east side Of the White
Tower, which were used by the Royal Engineers
rs stores, showed such unmisIakable signs of an
immediate intention Of falling in bodily that they
had To be swept away. On that side, therefore,
the White Tower Is unmasked and clear as it
was erected by Gundulf. 1t was in course Of this
removal that the Roman remains, to which
alIu-iOn has been made IN the early part OF this
paper, were discovered. At the same time the
dirty slums known as the Irish BIrracks were
cleared away, and the space between the inner
and outer fOrtifcatiOns on the eastern side being
thrown open the Salt and Broad Arrow towers
stand fully revealed.
The great work Ofall, however, remains. The
tower OF London - still screened from the Thames
by the greater warehouse Of which mention has
been made. Fortunately, there is n prospect that
a remedy will be found for the eclipse. An ar
raugemcnt has ut last been come to between the
Secretary Of StaIe for War and the first Commits
sioner Of Works, by which the former will give
m the warehouse which Is no lUnger required by
which are rotten and OF such aImsy cOnstruc-
tion that no bulky goods can be stored there
The fret Commissioner OF Works on his part will
remose these buildings, and then propose to COM
plese the restoration Of the inner wall of the
Tower aud the Lantern Tower, Of which no
doubt the foundations will be found beneath the
warehouse. The whole circle OF the Tower Of
London will thus again Ielppear, and the Central
Tower wall stand out. unencunibered by other
buildings. in all its pristine grandeur. Ample
authorities exist for the restoration, and though
it is impossible to give back the very stones, 1t IS
easy % reconstruct an exact and authentic pre-
sentiment Of the old fortress rs IL stood in those
days Careful drawings have been prepared at
the Office Of Works. together with models OF the
Tower as it - and as IL will te when the work Is
acrompIished. aui these have received the ap-
provai Of sune Uf the c'iei authorities archae-
ologv and architecture. y r need the public fear
lest they should be ..piiled and shaved for the
purpose. as their fOrbears were by William Rufus,
for the total cost N the work - only estimated at
&C. 500. Of which some $4,000 or more will be
recouped to the Exehequer by the sale Of the old
materials Of the stOrehOuse.