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| A detail of graffiti in the Beauchamp Tower |
According to the timer on my camera, it was gone 5:00pm by the time I had finished exploring the White Tower but, with a closing time of 5:30pm, there was still time to investigate the Tower of London further – including a quick visit to the Waterloo Block to see the Crown Jewels.
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| The Waterloo Block at the Tower of London |
I had not originally intended to see these, especially when noting the length of the queues that were forming throughout the afternoon but, by this time, the Tower of London had nearly emptied and I was the only one in the room. I quickly passed the Crown Jewels by on an airport style conveyor belt and - with the general public not being allowed to take photographs here - I don't remember too much about them and then continued with my tour.
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| A general view of graffiti in the Beauchamp Tower |
Relying on just a simple plan of the Tower of London - which contained no information on its history - I then finished my day out at the Beauchamp Tower, where I had no more than 5 minutes to take a few quick snaps of its general structure and the magnificent examples of graffiti, which was carved into the walls by the various prisoners who had been held here over the years.
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| A detail of graffiti in the Beauchamp Tower |
If I had known about these before my visit, I would have planned to spend my last half hour at the Tower of London looking at these very closely - undisturbed by the crowds that I had encountered everywhere. The fine detailing of the graffiti, which in places are works of art, suggests that the stone here is a soft, very fine grained limestone and, although the lighting conditions in the Beauchamp Tower were far from ideal, the very pale colouration would appear to confirm this.
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| The Dudley family arms in the Beauchamp tower |
I didn't even think about asking the Yeoman Warder, who was waiting to lock up, whether or not I could examine this particular stone further and I therefore still don't know if it is Beer stone, Caen stone, Totternhoe or some other kind of limestone that has been used here.
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| On the way out of the Beauchamp Tower |
When finally leaving the Beauchamp Tower, I then headed off back to Tower Hill underground station, where I took my last photograph of the day - at the ruin of the mediaeval postern gate that lies just to the north of the current site of the Tower of London.
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| The remains of the mediaeval postern gate at Tower Hill |
Is there a good identification guide for limestones? I have seen the Strategic Stone Study county digests via the BGS website but they don't have close-ups and diagnostic keys.
ReplyDeleteI have emailed the BGS about this recently. As someone with a background in horticulture, where everything is rigorously catalogued and provided in numerous identification books and websites I find it odd that the same is not done for rocks in Britain.
DeleteNot that I know of Tim. My own experience of identifying various limestones comes from acquiring building collections for myself and the Triton Stone Library, which made use of the Natural Stone Directory, various BRE publications and various other books that I have gathered over the years.
ReplyDeleteI have developed a good eye for the subject but, living in the north, I don't have much knowledge of the building stones from the Wealden District or Hampshire Basin.