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Once, the only way up to the next floor was the turret staircase in the north-east corner. It was at the
furthest possible distance from the entrance, at the opposite corner of the building, and was separated from it by
the cross wall, so that even if the enemy managed to force their way through the entrance, they might still be
prevented from gaining complete control of the building. The staircase now leading to the second floor was
inserted later, to give direct access from the palace to St John’s Chapel.
The Chapel of St John the Evangelist is a supreme example of early Norman church building. The pale
Caen stone is undecorated save for the capitals of the columns, but is finely finished, and the overall
proportions are perfect, with a careful emphasis on the rounded apse at the east end behind the altar. This severe
simplicity is misleading. As a royal chapel St John’s was richly decorated and furnished, with painting on the
stonework, stained glass in the windows, holy images, and a painted rood screen before the altar. In 1550, as the
English Reformation became truly Protestant, all these treasures were removed. Later, the Chapel housed some
of the public records. When they were removed in 1857, it was even suggested that it should become an army
clothing store. Instead, it was carefully restored to its original use as a place of worship.
The Chapel rises through two storeys, with a triforium on the upper level. Originally, the two adjoining
rooms on this floor, once the king’s great hall and his chamber, rose to the same height, each being overlooked
by a gallery within the walls at the higher level. The chamber, adjoining the Chapel, contains a wall fireplace
and within the wall at the end of the room, two garderobes, or lavatories. The next room, formerly the king’s
great hall, contains two more garderobes within the wall but no fireplace; presumably there was instead a
central hearth.
On this floor and on the one below no kitchen adjoins the hall as in later castle keeps. Perhaps the cooking
was done at one of the wall fireplaces or, more likely, the kitchens were outside the building, in the bailey, and
the food was brought in and kept warm on braziers.
The staircase in the corner of the room passes another garderobe and leads up to the gallery which
overlooked hall and chamber below and now gives on to the top floor. When this floor was inserted is not
certain, but it may have been in 1603 – 1605 when a new floor was built for a gunpowder store to serve the can-
non on the roof of the White Tower.
The visitor now descends the spiral staircase within the rounded turret to the basement which contained the
storerooms.
The two main rooms originally had timber ceilings, but were vaulted in brick about 1730 when the
basement was used as a gunpowder store. The second main room has a well, 40 feet (12 m) deep, which still
contains fresh water.
Answer the following questions.
1. How was the White Tower designed?
2. How was the White Tower used after a century or so?
3. Who was the first prisoner in the royal apartments?
4. What had the rooms of the White Tower been used for by the end of Elizabeth’s reign?
5. What is the size of the White Tower?
6. What were the walls of the White Tower built of?
7. How do the turrets of the White Tower look like?
8. Why is the entrance door set high above the ground?
9. What is the first room the visitor enters intended for?
10. Why may the Chapel of St John the Evangelist be called a great example of early Norman
church building?
11. What were the rooms adjoining the Chapel intended for?
12. Why was one more floor built in the White Tower?
THE INMOST WARD
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