Was surprised to find a Fieldfare in the garden the other day. This was the first record since we arrived here in 2000 and took the garden list to 46 species. I didn’t manage to photograph it but here are some pictures of Fieldfare taken at Bough Beech earlier in the year
In the cellar of the White Tower are some examples of items brought back from various military campaigns and presented to the Royal Armouries. Many of these are weapons but there are a few curiosities.
A golden winged lion statue captured by British forces beseiging the French in Corfu in 1809.
A bronze bell taken from the Russian fort at Bomersund during the Crimean war. Most metal objects captured were melted down for casting as artillery, but this fine example survived.
A decorated strongbox captured from the Spanish at Havana Cuba in 1762, It has an interesting security system – the lock on the front is a dummy and the real lock is concealed on the top of the box.
A Burmese bell presented to Sir William Gomm, whilst he was Commander British forces in India 1850-55. He was later Constable of the Tower which probably explains how it came to be in the Royal Armoury collection.
The Remains of the Wardrobe tower with the white Tower beyond
The Wardrobe Tower stands adjacent to the White Tower. It was begun around 1190 and its name comes from the fact that it was used to store the Kings Wardrobe – his clothes jewels and personal articles. It is built on the remians of a Roman bastion in the old city wall.
Only a fragment of the building remains today.
The White Tower was the original castle keep started by William I in 1070, just 4 years after he won the battle of Hastings. It was located to protect the river approaches to the city but soon became favoured as a royal residence.
The first reference to it by the name of ‘White Tower’ is in 1240 when the brickwork was painted.
After it fell out of fashion as a royal residence, the tower continued to functions a the headquarters for royal and governmental administration.
Coins minted at Tower mint
In 1279, William de Turemine was appointed Master Moneyer and the mint was moved from the city to more secure premises within the Tower of London. The minting of coins continued at the Tower until 1804 when a decision was taken to build a new purpose-built mint on Tower Hill, just outside the walls of the Tower. This was completed and opened in 1810 and production was moved from the mint buildings inside the Tower to the new site.
A Coin press
The history of the mint in the Tower is fairly unremarkable. But there was one attempt at robbery which nearly succeeded. On 20th December 1798, James Turnball, an ex-soldier working in the mint, locked a supervisor in a cupboard and made off with 2,000 newly minted guinea coins (a guinea was 1/4 oz of gold). He was able to make his escape from the Tower and went into hiding. No news of his whereabouts was known until on 5th January 1799 he was recognised, from a wanted poster, trying to purchase a berth on a boat from Dover to France. He was arrested, tried and was executed on 15th May 1799.
From 1692 one of the public attractions at the Tower was the Line of Kings, a display in chronological order of the armour of the Kings of England.
Artists impression of Line of Kings
A modern version is currently on display in the White Tower featuring some of the armour used in the original display.
Armour of Henry VIII
Originally displayed from 1690 as armour of Edward VI, son of Henry VIII. Now believed to be Prince Henry, son of James I
Armour of young Charles I
Storage of Weapons and armour has always been part of the function of the Tower. Originally located in the White Tower the armouries were later moved to specialised buildings within the Tower complex. In 1667 it was recorded that 10,000 barrels of gunpowder were stored in the White Tower.
The New Armouries building was built in 1683 and now serves as a restaurant. The Grand storehouse which stood on the North side of the White Tower was burnt down in 1841 and replaced by the Waterloo Block which now houses the Crown Jewels.
New Armouries
Waterloo Block
The Armouries has a fine collection of guns from across British History.
Turkish Cannon c1530 -captured at Aden 1839
British Mortar 1808 -probably used as a saluting gun
Bronze 6 pounders captured at Battle of Waterloo 1815
Chinese Cannon – Captured from Canyon fort during 2nd Chinese war 1856-61
I haven’t been able to get out to photograph many monuments recently but here are some pictures of the London Troops Memorial near the Bank of England in the City of London.
It was originally unveiled in November 1920 as a memorial to the troops from the London regiments who had died during the 1st world war. An inscription was added after the end of the second world war to commemorate those in the London Regiments who had died in that conflict.
It stands outside the Royal Exchange near the Bank of England. In order for the memorial to be placed here the city corporation had to move a water fountain. The site they chose for the water fountain was already occupied by a statue of Sir Rowland Hill, founder of the modern postal system, which they then had to relocate.
The Salt Tower was built around 1230 as part of Henry III’s curtain wall. It has an upper chamber which has been used as accommodation for prisoners. The most famous of these was John Balliol, King of Scots from 1296-1299. It has a display of prisoner graffiti.
The E is thought to refer to the future Elizabeth the First. The signature is of John Baptiste Catiglione, Elizabeth’s Italian tutor who was imprisoned here by Queen Mary.
This globe is by Huw Draper, Bristol inn-keeper and Astrologer who was imprisoned on charges of sorcery.
John Lyon was imprisoned in the Salt Tower on charges of importing a Catholic book into the country
The Wakefield Tower was built by Henry III sometime between 1238 and 1272. In early records, it is sometimes known as the Record or Hall Tower as from 1360 it was used to store the records of the Kingdom. Its current name seems to date from the holding of prisoners in the tower following the battle of Wakefield in 1460. Its most famous prisoner was King Henry VI who lived here from 1465 until he was briefly restored to the throne in 1470.
Wakefield Tower
However, it was not long before he was returned to his prison on 21st May 1470. He was murdered in his chamber the following day.
Entrance to lower chamber of Wakefield Tower
In the lower chamber is an exhibition on torture at the Tower. Surprisingly torture was not as frequently used in the middle ages as we might think. Between 1540 and 1640 records show only 81 cases in which its use was sanctioned – of these 48 were carried out at the Tower of London. In this exhibition is a replica of a medieval rack, which is based on plans drawn up in the 18th century from the remains of an original medieval rack discovered in a Tower store room.
Replica of Rack
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