Архитектурные шедевры Великобритании. Рябцева Е.В. - 33 стр.

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Words and Expressions
– an inmost ward – центральный внутренний двор
– a postern – боковой вход
– an oratory – молельня
– an aumbry – закрытое углубление в стенах церкви, ниша
– to abut – примыкать
– a well – колодец
– an annexe – пристройка
Parts of the defences of the original castle of 1066 – 1067 have been uncovered near the White Tower: a
section of the Romans’ landward city wall, built around AD 200, together with the foundation of a bastion built
around AD 400, on to which the Wardrobe Tower was later built, a section of the riverside city wall was built
around AD 390 and part of the ditch excavated by the Normans, to complete the bailey of their fort, which runs
towards the Wakefield Tower.
As the castle expanded, the bailey became the inmost ward, a precinct occupied by the palace, which was
bounded by the Coldharbour Gate, the Wakefield Tower, the Lanthorn Tower and the Wardrobe Tower. The
Coldharbour Gate alone gave access to the inmost ward; only the foundations of this twin-towered gatehouse
remain, adjoining the White Tower.
The wall of the inmost ward between the Coldharbour Gate and the Wakefield Tower remains, with its
gallery of arrow loops.
The Wakefield Tower was built between 1220 and 1240, early in the reign of Henry III, and occupied by
the king himself. It is by far the largest tower in the castle except for the White Tower, and in a sense was its
successor, being at the heart of the new palace and a strongpoint in the Tower’s enlarged defences,
commanding on one side the main Watergate, later incorporated into the Bloody Tower, and on the other side
the smaller postern, the king’s private entrance from the river.
The lower chamber, the guard room, overlooked the river through a line of arrow loops, until about 1280
the foreshore was built up to form the new outer ward. The arrow loops were then blocked and the floor level in
the room was raised to correspond with ground level outside. This infilling has been removed to reveal the
original stonework with masons’ marks in perfect condition and, to complete the restoration, the original timber
ceiling has been reconstructed.
The upper chamber of the Wakefield Tower, with its vaulted ceiling, large windows and fireplace, was
built to be the great or bed chamber of Henry III. From the precise directions Henry gave for the decoration of
the Wakefield Tower, from other surviving interiors of the period and from surviving furniture, it has been
possible to give some impression of what the upper chamber may have looked like in the reign of Edward I.
By then it was an ante room to Edward I’s new chambers in St Thomas’s Tower and was possibly used as a
throne room or presence chamber. Today a throne, copied from the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey,
can be seen. Also, facing east is a great, stained glass window lighting the king’s oratory or chapel. In it can be
seen the sedilia, the seat used by the priest in attendance; the piscina, the basin in which the vessels for Mass
were washed and the aumbry, or wall-cupboard in which they were stored.
By tradition, the oratory is especially associated with a later king, the Lancastrian Henry VI. Taken
prisoner by the new Yorkist king, Edward IV, in 1471 during the Wars of the Roses, Henry was lodged in the
Wakefield Tower and shortly after was murdered, probably on Edward’s order, while at prayer.
Long before Henry VI’s imprisonment the Wakefield Tower had become a storehouse for official documents.
After these were moved to the new Public Record Office in Chancery Lane, opened in 1856, the upper room housed
the Crown Jewels until the present Jewel House opened in 1967.
Once the privy chamber in the Wakefield Tower gave access to the great chamber, where the king would
meet his council or dine publicly, which in turn led to the great hall of the palace. The royal kitchen abutted the
Wakefield Tower, and was served by a well near its present ground floor exit. Beyond the kitchen, a range of

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