A view of the north-west corner of the White Tower |
When I first visited the White Tower as a child, I remember it for its collection of armour and not as a magnificent example of a castle keep and, having already spent spent more than two hours exploring the building stones in the rest of the Tower of London, I only briefly examined its fabric – preferring once again to marvel at the Royal Armouries.
A view of the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London |
Looking at the window reveals, various passages, archways and spiral staircases, the vast thickness of the walls impressed me and I saw plenty of Kentish ragstone, squared dressings that I assumed were Reigate stone and the occasional block of pale limestone, which was probably Caen stone; however, much of the masonry was blackened and the light levels were low and so I did not attempt a close examination of any of these.
The biggest surprise for me was the discovery of the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, which could be described as a perfect Norman church in its own right. Having investigated numerous mediaeval churches with Norman architectural features - in and around South Yorkshire - during the previous 9 months, I was quite stunned to see this in front of me.
Obviously, this provided the best example of Caen limestone at the Tower of the London that I would see but, when raising my camera in preparation for taking a few quick snaps, a young man - dressed in a very official looking old fashioned uniform - jumped out of the shadows to tell me authoritatively that I wasn't allowed to take any photographs.
The Chapel of St. John The Evangelist |
Not to be deterred, and after wandering in and out of the shadows myself, I took a single photo for the record and then proceeded to very quickly work my way through the rest of the White Tower. After a productive afternoon, I ended my trip to the Tower of London by spending less than 10 minutes to take a few quick snaps in the Beauchamp Tower.
A mythical beast in the White Tower |
Fortunately, they're much more relaxed about photography now which makes the reintroduction of the ban in the two chapels so utterly incomprehensible.
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