Neither is it easy to understand the intention of the arches in the party wall. Where, as at Rochester, these openings were of large span, the chambers admitted, on occasions of state, of being thrown into one. Here, however, though inconveniently large for doorways, they were far too small to make the rooms common. They could scarcely be intended to economise material, else the wall might have been safely much reduced in thickness, without piercing it completely through; and below they have no rebates or recesses for doors, or wooden partitions. On the third floor, where the doors are rebated, it is clear that they opened opposite ways, so that one, if not both the chambers, was subdivided. The rebates, however, may not be original.
The absence of all ornament, the very sparing use of ashlar, and the general roughness of the work, especially of the lower floor of this keep, lead to the conclusion that it was executed in haste, and with an insufficient command of good material. The vaulting especially is very coarse, and impressions remaining upon, and the occasional fragments of oak imbedded in, the mortar, show that the centering was composed of small rough oak slabs, not even cut to lengths, but overlapping, and that occasionally the form of the arch was preserved by the intervention of a rough coat of mortar. This used to be apparent even in the vaults of the chapel, and may still be seen in the mural galleries and staircases.
Against the east wall of the keep, a large rectangular building, now removed, was constructed, it is said, by Edward III. The lower walls were thick, and its south-east angle, which remains, seems to have been rounded off, perhaps as a turret. It is evidently an addition, and had nothing to do with any raised or covered entrance to the keep.
The inner ward is enclosed within a curtain wall, having four sides, twelve mural towers, and a gatehouse. The base or longest side faces the river. The east and west sides incline inwards, so that the north face is narrower than the base. This face is broken by an obtuse angle, having a central salient.
The level of much of this enclosure is 15 to 20 feet above that of the outer ward. Possibly part of the clay from the ditch, excavated by Longchamp, in the reign of Richard I., was here piled up. By reason of this difference, the lower part of this ward wall is a revetment, retaining the ground along the west and north, and part of the south and east fronts. The inequality is seen at the gatehouse, the passage through which rises one foot in ten to the middle of the ward; and, at St. Martin’s Staircase, at the north-east corner. Where the palace stood, from Wakefield to Salt Tower, the levels are nearly equal. This ward is much encumbered with buildings, some of the age of Henry VIII., some later, while others have been lately removed. No doubt this ward was always thus occupied, as the Tower was a depôt for all sorts of military stores, and a residence for petty officers of the court and garrison. In 1213, King John ordered to be salted and hung up “bacones nostros qui sunt apud Turrim”; and, in 1224, he drew upon the Tower for thirty dolia of wine; so that pigstyes and wine-stores formed a part of its contents. Lead, and the more expensive building-materials, were also kept here.
The Church of St. Peter ad Vincula, mentioned in the reign of John, and rebuilt in the late Perpendicular period, still occupies the north-west quarter of the ward. In the south-east quarter stood the Royal Palace, destroyed, at various times, by James, Cromwell, or after the Restoration. The keep in Norman castles was intended rather for the occasional than the regular residence of the lord, whose ordinary lodgings were more conveniently placed in the inner ward. This was so at Rochester, in 1281, at Bamborough, Carlisle Porchester, and elsewhere. Here the palace stood between the keep and the ward wall, and, besides, had walls of its own; one crossing from Wakefield Tower to the keep, where were drum-towers and a gateway known as Cold Harbour, and another called the Wardrobe Gallery, crossing from Broad Arrow Tower to the keep, and having upon it Wardrobe Tower, also circular, with a circular turret. The Queen’s Gallery extended from Salt to Lanthorn Tower, on the line of the curtain, and the great hall was connected with Wakefield Tower. The whole space was occupied by small courts and gardens, lodgings, and offices; and the buildings in the reign of Henry III. seem to have encroached upon the outer ward, where were two posterns for the service of the palace. These buildings, after the manner of royal houses, were always under repair; and seem to have absorbed much of the money expended on the Tower. The main guardhouse stands on the site of Cold Harbour. The foundation of the Queen’s Gallery and great hall have lately been laid open. Norman masonry, part of the ward-wall, has also been discovered. In the earlier surveys, the palace quarter is called the “Inner Ward.” Cold Harbour was probably very lofty; for, in 1572, complaint was made that Sir Owen Hopton, the lieutenant, allowed his prisoners to meet and walk on the “leads of Cold Harbour”; and about that time the Earl of Southampton stayed leaping upon the tower, his wife being on the opposite side of the ditch.
Of the twelve mural towers of this ward one caps each of the five angles. Two were intermediate on the south face, as two still are upon the east, and two upon the north, one on each side of the salient. The west, or shortest face, has one large intermediate tower. The gatehouse, called the Bloody Tower, stands considerably west of the centre of the south front, and opposite to Traitor’s Gate. It is contiguous to Wakefield Tower, which flanks it on the east, and probably determined its position and that of Traitor’s Gate.
Commencing with Wakefield, and passing westwards, the towers are, Bloody, Bell, Beauchamp, Devereux, Flint, Bowyer, Brick, St. Martin’s or Jewel, Constable’s, Broad-Arrow, Salt, and Lanthorn Tower, now destroyed.
Wakefield Tower deserves very close attention, its lower story being next to the keep in antiquity. It is also known as the Record Tower, records having been kept there from an early period until a short time ago. In the survey of Elizabeth it is called the Hall Tower, from its proximity to the royal hall, destroyed during the Commonwealth.
It is in plan a cylinder of 50 feet diameter, and is about 50 feet high. Its projection from the line of the south curtain is about 22 feet. Whether it was originally intended to cap an angle, is uncertain. No doubt the curtains from Lanthorn Tower on the east, and Cold Harbour on the north, abutted upon it on two faces, and were coëval with it; but it is unknown whether the third curtain from the west, now replaced by the gatehouse, was of the same date; and, in fact, whether the original design included the present inner ward.