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Vault in the Curfew Tower
W. A. Delamotte
1842
Wood-engraving
11.1 x 8.5 cm, vignetted
Eighth Delamotte illustration for W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance, first published in the June 1842 number of Ainsworth's Magazine; Chapter II; volume, p. 16.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
They then went forth, and descending a flight of stone steps on the left, came to a low strong door, which they unlocked, and obtained admission to a large octangular chamber with a vaulted roof, and deep embrasures terminated by narrow loopholes. The light of a lamp carried by the bellringer showed the dreary extent of the vault, and the enormous thickness of its walls.
"A night's solitary confinement in this place will be of infinite service to our prisoner," said the Duke of Shoreditch, gazing around."I'll be sworn he is ready to bite off the foolish tongue that hasbrought him to such a pass."
The butcher made no reply, but being released by the arquebusiers, satdown upon a bench that constituted the sole furniture of the vault.
"Shall I leave him the lamp?" asked the bellringer; "he may beguile the time by reading the names of former prisoners scratched on the walls andin the embrasures." [Chapter II. "Of Bryan Bowntance, the Host of the Garter; Of the Duke of Shoreditch; Of the Bold Words uttered by Mark Fytton, the Butcher, and how he was cast into the Vault of the Curfew Tower," pp. 15-16]
Left: Delamotte's initial external study, Curfew Tower, from Thames Street (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.]
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"]
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 6 December 2017