ter Palace to the Borough High-street, and along Tooley-street to Battle Bridge, and beyond the latter, to another bridge crossing a ditch, or rivulet, which falls into the Thames opposite to the Tower Wharf, the houses on both sides were thickly clustered; but towards Horselydown the ground was open, and the few buildings which stood opposite to St. Katharine's, were intermingled with gardens to where the Plan terminates. London Bridge was crowded with buildings, among which the celebrated Nonsuch House appeared eminently conspicuous, beyond the draw-bridge, as beheld from Southwark, THE TOWER OF LONDON. This celebrated fortress, which is rendered so particularly interesting from being connected with some of the most important events recorded in our national annals, stands on the northern banks of the Thames, at the eastern extremity of the City. Various are the opinions among antiquaries as to the origin of this fabric; and although its recent historian, Mr. John Bayley,* contends against the current idea of its having been a Roman foundation, other enquirers have maintained a contrary hypothesis, and apparently upon better grounds. Not the least credit, however, is due to the report of the White Tower having been founded by Julius Cæsar, who never advanced to this capital, in either of his bravely-contested invasions ; but that the Romans had a fortress here in a sub * Vide "History and Antiquities of the Tower," pp. 2-6. * sequent age, is highly probable. Dr. Stukeley, from Fitz-Stephen, names it the Ara Palatina, and has introduced it in his plan of Londinium Augusta ;* and Dr. Miller, in his dissertation on some Roman Antiquities discovered here, in the latter part of 1777, states his belief that the Tower was not only the capital fortress of the Romans," but likewise their "treasury, as well as their mint.”† The Keep, or as it is generally denominated, Caesar's, or the White Tower, is the most ancient part of the present fortress: this was erected about the year 1078, by command of William the Conqueror, for the purpose of securing the obedience of the Londoners. Its architect was the celebrated Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, who, whilst it was in progress, had lodgings at the house of one Edmere, a citizen. Considerable additions were made by William Rufus, of whom Henry of Huntingdon writes, that he pilled and shaved the people with tribute, especially to spend about the Tower of London and the great Hall at Westminster.§ Henry the First strengthened this fortress with additional works, and King Stephen, in 1140, kept his court here with great magnificence, during the festival of Whitsuntide. That monarch conferred the custody of the Tower upon Geoffrey de Magnaville, Earl of Essex, who proved faithless to his trust, and kept it for the Empress Matilda, until he was made prisoner at St. Alban's in 1143, and constrained to Vide Antea, pp. 30-47. + Vide Archæologia, vol. v. Stow's" Survey," p. 73: edit. 1618. § Ibid. assent to its surrender, together with the castles of Walden and Pleshy in Essex. About the year 1190, the precincts of the Tower were considerably extended by William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and Chancellor of England, who, having been left at the head of the Regency by Richard Cœur de Lion, during his absence in the Holy Land, thought proper to surround this fortress with an embattled wall, of stone, and "a broade and deepe ditch," by which he greatly encroached upon the adjoining lands, and had part of the City wall "broken down for the enlarging of the Tower, to wit, from the Posterne gate towards the River Thames."* This proceeding greatly exasperated the Londoners, and combined, with his many other acts of arbitrary power, to excite a conspiracy against him. He was, in consequence, summoned before a great Council of the nobility, prelates, and citizens, that had been convened in St. Paul's Church-yard; but, refusing to appear, he was deposed from his authority as Regent, and Prince John besieged him in the Tower. After one night the affrighted prelate agreed to surrender, and to give up all his castles for permission to retire to the Continent. .King John frequently held his court at the Tower, and both repaired and added to the buildings; yet, on the general defection of his subjects in 1215, he was constrained to consent to those ever memorable records of British freedom, Magna Charta, and the Stow's "Survey," p. 25: edit. 1598. |