Port-hole in the Curfew Tower at Windsor Castle, based on a sketch made by Sandhurst Military Academy drawing-master W. Alfred Delamotte for the ninth instalment of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance for the April 1843 number in Ainsworth's Magazine. Book the Fourth, "Cardinal Wolsey," headpiece for Chapter VII, "Of the mysterious noise heard in the Curfew Tower," p. 214: 8.6 cm high by 9.8 cm wide, framed. We have already encountered this architectural setting Book I, for it is the site of Mark Fytton's execution. [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 Illustrated: The Mysterious, Gothic Interior of the Curfew Tower
Drawing his sword, Bouchier hurried down the steps leading into this chamber, which was buried in darkness, and advanced so precipitately and incautiously into the gloom, that he struck his head against a crossbeam. The violence of the blow stunned him for a moment, but as soon as he recovered, he called to the guard in the lower chamber to bring up a torch. The order was promptly obeyed; but, meanwhile, the sound had ceased, and, though they searched about, they could not discover the occasion of it.
This, however, was not so wonderful for the singular construction of the chamber, with its numerous crossbeams, its deep embrasures and recesses, its insecure and uneven floor, its steep ladder-like staircases, was highly favourable to concealment, it being utterly impossible, owing to the intersections of the beams, for the searchers to see far before them, or to move about quickly. In the midst of the chamber was a large wooden compartment enclosing the cumbrous and uncouth machinery of the castle clock, and through the box ran the cord communicating with the belfry above. At that time, pieces of ordnance were mounted in all the embrasures, but there is now only one gun, placed in a porthole commanding Thames Street, and the long thoroughfare leading to Eton. The view from this porthole of the groves of Eton, and of the lovely plains on the north-west, watered by the river, is enchanting beyond description.
Viewed from a recess which has been partly closed, the appearance of this chamber is equally picturesque and singular; and it is scarcely possible to pass beneath its huge beams or to gaze at the fantastic yet striking combinations they form in connection with the deep embrasures, the steep staircases and trap-doors, and not feel that the whole place belongs to romance, and that a multitude of strange and startling stories must be connected with it. The old architects were indeed great romancers, and built for the painter and the poet. [Book IV, "CardinalWolsey,"ChapterVII, "Of the Mysterious Noise heard in the Curfew Tower," p. 214]
Commentary: The Curfew Tower, Once Again
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.
The gloomy, heavy-beamed interior becomes significant once again as Henry orders the old forester, Tristram Lyndwood, to be imprisoned there in the dungeon. This cell is far more secure than the guardroom, and therefore (thinks Henry) will be proof against any attempt by Herne to free his confederate, especially since Henry intends to have the tower guarded by arquebusiers and his own Captain of Guard, Bouchier, who will be on the roof.
Earlier 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
- Curfew Tower and other buildings, as proposed to be altered by Wyatville
- 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
- The Upper Quadrangle by Delamotte (Book III, Ch. IV)
- 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 31 December 2017