The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-28
THE OUBLIETTE OF THE TOWER
nJN T

terestlng discovery, and enhanced thu
: mystery and romance which have gath
cred for centuries around its gray wall!
and battlements. The new guard-roon
occupies the space between the Bloody
Tower and the White Tower upon tn,
right as you enter the inner ward, ant
in preparing it's foundations a subter'
ranean passage was discovered Cor, tc
be accurate, re-discovered, for it's eX.
istence was known before), extending
from the moat near the Traitors Gate
beneath st. Thomas Tower, in the di-
rection of the southwest angle of the
White Tower. TIL passage is lined
throughout with Norman masonry and
has level floor; it was evident at once
therefore, that it was no a drain or
culvrt, for in that case it would have
had a rounded bottom, and it became
matter of interest to follow it both
ways, towards the moat and towards
the White Tower, for the purpose o
| ascertaining whether it communicated
directly with the interior of the White
| Tower, forming, thus, an outlet to the
moat from the lower portion of the
| keep where the dungeons are situated.
1t seemed most likely that this should
| be the case, but expectation has been
| disappointed. The passage does, in
deed, lead to a dungeon, and most
| horrible one, but there is no commune
cation with the White Tower. 1t runs
straight from the moat into the dun
geon, but the dungeon is completely
| isolated from all parts of the fortress,
| and it's communication with the up
per air is by a shaft which descends
| into the massage.
BY permission of the Office of Works
a representative of the Daily Graphic
was allowed to descend the shaft and
inspect the passage and the dungeon
under the guidance Of Mr.. May the
clerk of the works. Arriving at the
Tower and presenting his pass at the
office of Mr.. May, that gentleman first
exhibited to his visitor in the little
yard behind his office the objects dis
covered in clearing out the shaft and
passage These consist mainly of
masses of potsherds, amid which are
fragments of green-glazed ware such
as was common throughout the middle
ages; several broken brown jugs
known as bellarmines, and pieces of
colored delft and Fulham ware-all,
no doubt fragments Of the broken
utensils of the garrison, thrown down
the shaft after the dungeon had
ceased to be used. in Elizabethan times
and later. More interesting than these
relics are numbers of cannon balls, of
stone and of iron, which We're found in
the excavation. Some of the iron balls
have marks on them. One has been
Wiz tla
To others pieces of bone and timber
are still adhering, 1t is believed, with
great proba bility, that some at least of
these roundshot We're fired at the tower
by the Protestant rebels under Sir
Thomas Wyatt. The "R" mark on one
of the balls may be that of the arsenal
at Rochester, to which the rebels had
access before advancing on London.
Wyatt, as is we'll known, headed
rebellion of Kentish men when the fear
spread that the Spaniards were coming
to conquer the realm after the queen
had set her heart on the marriage with |
Philip of Spain. The stirring tale is |
briefly told by Green: THE ships in !
the Thames submitted to be seized by |
the insurgents. A party of the train
bands of London, who marched under |
the Duke of Norfolk against them, de-
serted to the rebels in a mass, with
shouts of A Wyatt! Wyatt. We are
all Englishmen.' Had the insurgents
moved quickly on the capital its gates
would have been flung open and sue
cess would have been assured But in
the critical moment Mary was saved
by her queenly courage. Riding boldly
n hn GJ1f1 ho do Ia
mans voice to the loyalty of the citi-
zens, and when Wyatt appeared on the
Southwark bank the bridge was Sc
cured" Wyatt pushed on up the river,
crossed at Kingston, turned back on
London, and was finally defeated and
made prisoner at Temple Bar. 81 have
kept touch" he cried at the gate, but
MS adherents within We're unable to
make the promised diversion in his ia
vor, and Wyatt was sent to the tower
md beheaded. 1t seems probable that
he cannon balls now discovered were
ired either by the ships in the river, or
rom the other side by the artillery
which Wyatt had with him on his
march But the Tower even on it's
most vulnerable side the river front,
vas impregnable to any force of foot
n artillery which Wyatt could bring
gainst it. The bones which adhere to I
ONE of the cannon shot seem to tell of
ONE execution done-ghastly relies,
maybe, of some of the garrison who
ell in the bombardment
One of the most interesting finds was
mass of Roman cement, in which are
mbeded three of the well-known tiles
18th which the Roman architects
anded their walls. The cement is as
sual, of extreme hardness. With this |
rere portions of the fues of a hypo- q
aust and broken vessel of Roman t
qnopun GIuosgtu uBuoH puB 'spuels
9Mol 7ul 7I9uM luEod eul ne I9AII e
II p9uonol uopuoI 10 HeM uBuoN 9uL I
oeWe aqua ol luelsuoo ue9q seu uon
pBIl :IeMol 5ql 10 9lIs 9ql no p9lsI I
y ssellIoJ ueuoH leql lqnop Ig9I Il
de sBM I7Aeu eI9qL. 'eIeMu9qlJso f
lily lies at the base of some of the ex- h
ting medieval walls. The discovery n
these Roman remains close to the a
'hite Tower Is interesting, as showing p
lat it was there, probably, that one of "
lie principal dwellings, of the Roman @
lrrison stood. Another interesting n
)ject is the wooden handle of a dag fl
n of the fifteenth century, of the type c
hich has a lobe on each side of the q
lard. II