Tower of London
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Tower of London. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the most ancient and historically the most interesting pile in the English metropolis; a mass of buildings on the N. side of the Thames, immediately to the E. of the ancient city walls, its ramparts and gates surrounded by a dry ditch in pentagonal shape; in outer circuit measuring 1,050 yards. Within this the whole of the buildings are encircled by a d double line of walls and bulwarks, in some places 40 feet high and 12 feet thick; the space between the walls being known as the outer ward, and the interior as the inner ward. The inner ward was formerly the royal quarter. The outer ward was the folks' quarter. The inner ward is defended by 12 massive and conspicuous towers, stationed at unequal dis- TOWER OF LONDON AND BRIDGE tances, and possessing distinctive names and formations. In the center, rearing its head proudly above them all, stands the main quadrangular building and great Norman keep known as the White Tower. To the N. are the barracks, and to the N. W. the Church of St. Peter and Vincula. The entrance to the buildings is on the W. side by the Lion's Gate. Tradition ascribes the origin of the Tower to Julius Cæsar. The White Tower was reared by William the Conqueror, probably as a secure place of shelter for himself and a menace to the turbulent citizens. It was designed by Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, and bears a sister likeness to Rochester Castle. For centuries the Tower was a palace, a prison, a fortress, and a court of law. Here the Plantagenet kings held their gay tournaments, magnificent revels, and pompous religious ceremonials. Here place where many political prisoners also tragedy succeeded tragedy, and the were executed. innocent blood of many of England's bravest and most beautiful poured forth in a cruel stream. The first State prisoner was Flambard, Bishop of I Durham, who effected his escape in 1100 and fled to Normandy. The noble Wallace suffered a cruel imprisonment and terrible death here in 1305. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, haunts the pile like a specter. He murdered Henry VI. in the Hall Tower. The infant princes, his nephews, were smothered in the Bloody Tower; their supposed remains, found in the reign of Charles II., now lie in Westminster Abbey. Clarence, according to tradition, was crowned by Richard in wine in the Bowyer Tower, and Hastings condemned to death in the Council Chamber. The remains of King Henry VIII.'s beheaded queens, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, lie in St. す Peter's Church. A group of ghastly executions are associated with the reign of Mary, prominent among which are those of Lady Jane Grey, the wise, fair, and pious "Twelfth Day queen," her consort Dudley, and her father-in-law, Northumberland. Imprisoned together in the Garden Tower, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer searched the New Testament togeth- Sir Walter Raleigh was thrice coner. fined in the Tower which bears his name in many places. Here he wrote his "History of the World," and beguiled his solitude with chemical experiments. Sir T. Overbury was poisoned in the Tower in 1613, and Strafford was beheaded in 1641, Laud in 1645. The last of the numerous executions in the Tower, but a few of which have been mentioned, was that of Lord Lovat in 1747. The government of the Tower is vested in the Constable, usually an officer of high military rank. In the White Tower is the Chapel of St. John, which formerly held the records, one of the finest specimens of Early Norman style. The banqueting Chamber adjoining is Hall and Council used as an armory, and is filled with 60,- 000 stands of arms, kept in perfect order and beautifully arranged. Beauchamp18 Tower, which was restored in 1853 by , is to the W., and the Horse Mr. Salvin Armory to the S. The latter, built in 1826, contains a gallery 150 feet long by 33 feet wide, in which are 22 equesclothed in the distinctive trian figures armor of the reigns from Edward I. to James II. A staircase from the Horse Armory leads to an ante-chamber filled with weapons and trophies taken in British struggles in the East. Queen Elizabeth's Armory in the White Tower contains arms and armor of her reign, various instruments of torture, and the block on which Lord Lovat was beheaded. The Jewel House contains several crowns, including that for the coronation of Queen 111,900), the Kohi- Victoria (valued at £ noor diamond, and the diadems, scepters, and jewels constituting the Regalia. To the N. W. of the Tower is Tower Hill, where, till within about 150 years, stood the scaffold for the execution of traitors.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an ancient fortress and state prison. It is an irregular pile of buildings surrounded by battlemented stone walls and a deep moat. It stands on the north bank of the Thames in the eastern part of the city, beyond the site of the ancient city walls. The moat surrounds a five-sided space of thirteen acres. The square keep, the center of the fortress, was built in the reign of William the Conqueror. The tower was originally a palace and a castle, but was converted early into a state prison,-the Bastille of England. Many an object of royal fear or hatred, as well as many a criminal of high estate, was confined in the Tower. Sometimes the condemned were executed in the court, but more often they were taken forth to Tower Hill under guard. Thomas More, Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell, Catherine Howard, Admiral Seymour, Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Sir John Eliot, the Earl of Essex, and many other illustrious prisoners who were beheaded by royal order lie buried in the Tower Chapel. It is one of the saddest spots on earth. The rooms in which these prisoners were confined are still shown. Among other prisoners held in the Tower for a longer or shorter length of time may be mentioned John Baliol, William Wallace, David Bruce, King John of France, Archbishop Cranmer, Princess Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, the Earl of Strafford, Archbishop Laud, and the Duke of Marlborough. Visitors are admitted freely. One of the spots most likely to attract attention is the stairway under which the remains of the two young princes murdered by Richard III were found. Cases of antiquities contain armor, swords, maces, pikes, crossbows, longbows, battleaxes, and ancient firearms. Two brass cannon taken by General Wolfe at Quebec are shown. The crown jewels or regalia of England are kept in a strong tower. There are magnificent crowns and circlets, studded with gems. The gold and the jewels in the collection are said to be worth $15,000,000. See Thames ; London
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
The jewel-room of the Tower of London is reported to be haunted, and, in 1860, there was published in Notes and Queries by the late Edmund Lenthal Swifte, Keeper of the Crown Jewels the account of a spectral illusion witnessed by himself in the Tower. He says that in October, 1817, he was at supper with his wife, her sister, and his little boy, in the sitting-room of the jewel-house. To quote his own words: "I had offered a glass of wine and water to my wife, when, on putting it to her lips, she exclaimed, Good God! what is that?' I looked up and saw a cylindrical figure like a glass tube, seemingly about the thickness of my arm, and hovering between the ceiling and the table; its contents appeared to be a dense fluid, white and pale azure. This lasted about two minutes, when it began to move before my sister-in-law; then, following the oblong side of the table, before my son and myself, passing behind my wife, it paused for a moment over her right shoulder. Instantly crouching down, and with both hands covering her shoulder, she shrieked out, 'O Christ! it has seized me!'" "It was ascertained," adds Mr. Swifte, "that no optical action from the outside could have produced any manifestaion within, and hence the mystery has remained unsolved." Speaking of the Tower, we learn from the same source how "one of the night sentries at the jewel-house was alarmed by a figure like a huge bear issuing from underneath the jewel-room door. He thrust at it with his bayonet which stuck in the door. He dropped in a fit and was carried senseless. to the guard-room.... In another day or two the brave and steady soldier died."