There is a third stage, and above it the battlements.
Salt Tower was the meeting point of four curtains. These were the east and south walls of the inner ward, of equal height and thickness, and two walls of smaller dimensions, of which one ran east, and traversed the east member of the outer ward, and one ran south to Well Tower, and traversed the south member. Each of these had a gateway, opening into the space between them, and leading to the Iron Gate postern. Of the five loops on the ground-floor of Salt Tower, two opened north-eastward upon the outer ward, two south-westward upon that ward towards Cradle Tower, and one south-eastwards towards Galleyman Tower and the postern.
Salt Tower has undergone recent and complete restoration. Its original features, however, seem to have been preserved.
A section of the curtain between Salt and Lanthorn Tower seen against the wall of the former show it to have been 10 feet thick and about 20 feet high, but the rest of it was probably removed before 1532 to make way for the Queen’s Gallery. This curtain terminated in the Lanthorn Tower.
SALT TOWER.—FIRST FLOOR.
The Lanthorn Tower has been long since pulled down, but its foundation has lately been discovered. It formed a part of the palace, and contained the king’s bedchamber and private closet. It was circular, and probably originally of the age, size, and fashion of Wakefield Tower. As in 1532 it was called the New Tower, it may have been rebuilt in that or the preceding century. It was injured by fire in 1788 and pulled down, with a contiguous gateway which traversed the outer ward at this point.
Lanthorn Tower is stated in the survey of 1532 to have been 106 feet distant from Wakefield Tower. The actual distance occupied by Lanthorn Tower and its curtains, that is from Salt to Wakefield Tower, was 343 feet.
The Outer Ward is a strip of from 20 feet to 110 feet in breadth, which completely surrounds the inner ward, and is itself contained within the ditch, of which its wall forms the scarp. This wall, though generally, is not strictly, parallel to the inner curtain. Like it, its east and west faces are straight, and the north face has a salient angle near its centre. The river front is also bent, though slightly.
On the south side this ward varies in breadth from 20 feet to 80 feet; on the east from 60 feet to 90 feet; on the west from 60 feet to 70 feet; and on the north, the salient of which is rather bolder than that behind it, and a little nearer to the east end, the breadth ranges from 90 feet to 110 feet. The lengths of the faces upon the ditch in the same order are, 750 feet, 580 feet, 460 feet, and 620 feet, being a girth of 800 yards.