Curfew Tower and other buildings, as proposed to be altered by Wyatville at Windsor Castle, based on a sketch made by Sandhurst Military Academy drawing-master W. Alfred Delamotte for the tenth instalment of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance for the May 1843 number in Ainsworth's Magazine. Book the Third, "The History of the Castle," Chapter V, "The Last Great Epoch in the History of the Castle," bottom of p. 168: 5.5 cm high by 7.9 cm wide, vignetted. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Passage Introduced
For the present the works are suspended. But it is to be hoped that the design of Sir Jeffry Wyatville will be fully carried out in the lower ward, by the removal of such houses on the north as would lay Saint George's Chapel open to view from this side; by the demolition of the old incongruous buildings lying westward of the bastion near the Hundred Steps, by the opening out of the pointed roof of the library; the repair and reconstruction in their original style of the Curfew, the Garter, and the Salisbury Towers; and the erection of a lower terrace extending outside the castle, from the bastion above mentioned to the point of termination of the improvements, and accessible from the town; the construction of which terrace would necessitate the removal of the disfiguring and encroaching houses on the east side of Thames Street. This accomplished, Crane's ugly buildings removed, and the three western towers laid open to the court, the Horse-shoe Cloisters consistently repaired, Windsor Castle would indeed be complete. And fervently do we hope that this desirable event may be identified with the reign of VICTORIA. [Chapter V, "The Last Great Epoch in the History of the Castle," pp. 168-169]
Commentary
The Curfew Tower, on the extreme right in the panoramic view which Delamotte sketched from the Eton side of the river in the summer of 1842, has a somewhat mediaeval-looking building on top which Wyatville apparently proposed to alter. The tower is significant early in the novel in that it is where Here Henry VIII orders the truculent young butcher executed. While the outspoken supporter of Catherine of Arragon, Mark Fytton, hangs suspended from a pole attached to theCurfew Tower, Henry and his retinue watch from the neighbouring Garden Tower.
Other Views by Delamotte of the Curfew Tower
Left: The first view of the round tower, Curfew Tower, from Thames Street (Book I, headpiece for Ch. II). Centre: Delanotte's second external study, Eastern View of the Curfew Tower (Book I, Ch. II). Right: Delamotte captures an action scene, Mark Fytton, the Butcher, Hanging from the Curfew Tower (Book I, tailpiece for Ch. III). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Other Views of the Curfew Tower
- Interior of the Curfew Tower
- Vault in the Curfew Tower
- Port-hole in the Curfew Tower
- Upper Chamber in the Curfew Tower
- The Castle, from the Brocas
- The Disappearance of Herne in the Curfew Tower
A Brief History of the Curfew Tower, 1227-1863
King Henry III ordered the construction of the Curfew Tower, which derives its name from its bells, between 1227 and 1230 at the extreme western end of the castle's fortifications as part of the new defences following the siege of Windsor during the reign of King John. The D-shaped tower contains a thirteenth-century dungeon, and has some of the oldest masonry in Windsor Castle. Its walls are thirteen feet thick at the base, and rise to a height of one hundred feet. Its position commands the northwest angle of the defences of the castle's lower ward. In 1477, King Edward IV effected the greatest change in its history by allowing the College of St. George to repurpose it as a belfry. At that time, the College had labourers construct an internal timber frame to house the bells and a clock mechanism with an external face. The College's bells and clock have remained in place since the late fifteenth century. Structurally, however, the tower had remained unchanged for centuries, until architect Anthony Salvin (1798-1881), an expert on Mediaeval and Tudor architecture, carried out necessary structural restoration work in 1863.
Salvin’s work included giving the tower a completely new stone face, raising the height of the upper walls and adding a large semi-conical roof modeled on one at Carcassone. The story goes that it was Emperor Napoleon III who suggested this new look while visiting Queen Victoria in 1855. Salvin's alterations gave us the Curfew Tower that we see today, still fulfilling its role as the chapel clock and bell tower, as it has done for over 500 years.["Image of the Month: The Curfew Tower, College of St. George, Windsor Castle"]
Other Views and Related Material on Windsor Castle
- Windsor Castle from the Long Walk, Victorian additions and alterations by Sir Jeffry Wyattville
- Early twentieth-century view of the castle from the river
- The Frogmore Mausoleum, adjacent to the Long Walk
- Statue of Queen Victoria at the foot of Castle Hill, Windsor
References
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance. Illustrated by George Cruikshank and Tony Johannot. With designs on wood by W. Alfred Delamotte. London: Routledge, 1880. Based on the Henry Colburn edition of 1844.
"Image of the Month: The Curfew Tower." College of St. George, Windsor Castle. https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/image_of_the_month/the-curfew-tower/
Patten, Robert L. Chapter 30, "The 'Hoc' Goes Down." George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art, vol. 2: 1835-1878. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers U. P., 1991; London: The Lutterworth Press, 1996. Pp. 153-186.
Plowman-Craven. "Curfew Tower, Windsor Castle." https://www.plowmancraven.co.uk/projects/curfew-tower-windsor-castle/
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Last modified 9 February 2018