Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-11-11
THE STONES OF THE TOWER
OF LONDON CRY OUT HISTORY

! Middle Ages and down to 1884 the
royal menagerie was housed there.
| The lions are gone now-and the me-
nagerie's smell is no more.
| The Middle Tower is next. 1t was
built during the Plantagenet period by
Edward l. 1t is now entirely refaced.
! We pass through a drawbridge of
wood to the Byward Tower, the great
gatehouse to the outer ward. 1t is
partly the work of Edward l., but was
finished by Richard II. On either side
of the archway are guard rooms with
stone vaulted ceilings and hooded fire.
places. This tower, built by Henry
VIII, leads to the Bell Tower which
was planned during Richard First's
reign. Here Fisher, Bishop of Ro-
chester, was imprisoned by Henry
VIII, and the Princess Elizabeth by
her sister, Queen Mary.
The Traitors Gate is on the right.
Through its portals went the various
and several noble condemned during
the reigns of the bloody and insane
| Tudor family Richard Duke of
Buckingham, Sir Thomas More, Queen
Anne Boleyn, Cromwell Earl of Es-
sex, Queen Katharine Howard, Lady
Jane Grey, Earl Seymour, James Duke
of Monmouth and other notables of
that period passed under the arch on
their way to prison or the scaffold.
Tower on Old Roman Site
The White Tower, or keep of the old
Fortress is next The Conqueror be-
gan it's foundations soon after his
coronation. 1t is on the site of an
older fortress built by the Saxons and
under that is the foundation of city
wall erected by the Romans. The
Tower stands 107x117 in dimension
which gives an idea of its size. 1t is
| 80 feet high. The interior is of the
sternest, plainest character. The mar
row stone stairways wind to the left
why? A Norman idea to prevent
swordsmen attackers from swinging
their weapons as they rushed up
stairs. The stairs are purposely mar
row so that one man could hold a
staircase against the assault of reg
iment.
This tower reeks with history. In
the thickness of it's walls some bones
of children were found during the
reign of Charles II. These were iden-
titled later to be the remains of Ed
ward v, and his brother who disap
peared at the accession of Richard
III. The bones were removed to West
minister Abbey in 1878.
Why Plate Armour is No More
In the White Tower display room,
once huge dining hall where the
king and his courtiers used to hold
their drinking bouts and banquetS I'M
til they rolled or fell under the table,
is now one of the finest collections of
arms and armour to be found in Eur
III 1<1 x11oc
of all sorts are here. Swords, bills,
spears, pixies and tools for decapita-
ton or the disemboweling of a foe.
Here also are old blunderbusses, rifles
and other shooting irons. 1t is gener-
ally assumed that the invention of
gunpowder drove armour out of use,
but the Tower authorities say not.
They aver that the need for greater
mobility of large bodies of troops and
the poor quality of armour made when
it's use became general superannuated
it.
Plate armour, ITSELF was worn by
the rich gentry. Completely used it
served more as protection on the
jousting field than as part of the har-
ness of open war. However, the col
lection of arms and armour, much of
tually used, is highly interesting.
A part of the White Tower is the
Crypt of the Chapel of ST. John. On
it's walls are inscriptions carved by
prisoners who took part in Wyatt's
rebellion in 1854. Here is the block
used in the execution of Simon Lord
Lovatt in 1747, and few instruments
of punishment such as the rack as it
existed in the Tower up to 1909 This
last was an ingenious though devilish
device for twisting the bones of pris-
oners until they delivered their polit-
ical secrets.
Henry WILL, Big Man
Other interesting sections to the
White Tower are the Small Arms
room, the Chapel of st. John, the
Sword room, the Weapon room, the
Horse Armoury, the Tudor room, the
Mortar room, the Cannon room and
so on. In the Tudor room are some
rare specimens of the work of those
Middle Age armourers, the Milanese.
Armour, richly silvered and chased
with all sorts of inscriptions represent
beautiful work of vanished art. The
purpose was sinister but the work it
self is exquisite. Henry VIII must
have been a huge man-his armour
weighs 81 pounds and that of his
horse 70 pounds. He was a wicked
old rascal too, the guide assures you.
Insane and bloody and the final vic
tim of syphilis or some other loath-
some and ravishing disease.
The collection of richly chased ar
mour in this rom includes a set des-
cribed as trough from the hammer"
though it has been milled or glazed
until no hammer marks are visible.
The suit weighs SO pounds and is COM
posed of 235 separate pieces of metal.
On the parade outside we see mod :
ern soldiers at drill. They are the
well-set-up type of British Tommies.
There are goodly number of troops
stationed in the Tower barracks at all
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