In general terms the towers were built for accommodation, including prisons, and as gateways protecting the Tower of London concentric castle complex. The concentric castle design ensured protection of the Tower of London with successive lines of fortification - many of the different towers were gradually added, over many hundreds of years, providing additional protection. Specific facts and info about which English King was responsible for building the towers, when the towers were built, the style of architecture and interesting info about its history.
Salt Tower
Salt Tower
- Information & Facts about the Salt Tower
- Key Dates in the Salt Tower’s history
- Who built the Salt Tower in the great Tower of London?
- Information & Facts about when the Salt Tower was built
The Salt Tower - Key Facts and Information about the Towers
- The Salt Tower was built by King Henry III
- The date the Salt Tower was built was between 1238 - 1272
- The Chief Architect and Master Builder of the Salt Tower was Henry de Reyns together with John of Gloucester and Robert of Beverley
- The Architecture / Style of the Medieval Salt Tower is described as Norman (Romanesque) / Edwardian / Gothic
- The purpose of the Salt Tower was initially residential
- History - The Salt Tower was once referred to as Baliol’s Tower having once imprisoned John Baliol the King of Scotland in 1297 - 1299. Another prisoner was a man named Hugh Draper of Bristol who was imprisoned in the Salt Tower in 1561 under suspicion of Sorcery. Whilst he was imprisoned in the Salt Tower he carved a huge, incredibly intricate, astronomical clock which can still be seen. The inscription records that “Hew Draper of Brystow made this sphere the 30 daye of Maye anno 1561”. Jesuits were also imprisoned here and their carvings depicting religious scenes can also be seen on the walls
- Anthony Salvin, a Victorian architect, was appointed in 1851 to ‘restore’ the Tower to a pseudo-medieval form so it could be opened to the public
Origins of the name ‘Salt Tower’
The Salt Tower was initially called the Julius Caesar’s Tower and then Baliol’s Tower. It is possible that the building was given the lasting nickname of the ‘Salt Tower’ as in medieval England salt was extremely expensive and only afforded by the higher Nobility. These Lords sat on the dais at the ‘high table’ and their commoner servants at lower trestle tables. The salt was placed in the centre of the high table and only those of the appropriate rank had access to it. Those less favoured on the lower tables were “beneath the salt”. It is possible that this expensive commodity was traditionally stored in this building.
The Salt Tower
The very walls of the Salt Tower contain some of the bloody secrets and the of the history of the Tower of London. Which King was responsible for building the Salt Tower and what was his reason? When was it built? Interesting facts and info about the history of the Tower of London!
Salt Tower
The Tower of London
- The History of The Tower of London
- Information & Facts about The Tower of London
- The Design, Layout and Architecture of The Tower of London - the different Towers
- The Tower of London Timeline
- The Tower of London Prisoners
- The Executions and Beheading of men and women