East Walls

    This is the view from the eastern inner walls.  As mentioned elsewhere, the inner walls were built atop a small slope with a moat beneath.  When the outer walls were added, the moat was filled, and a new one was created fronting the outer wall.  The east walls originally faced open farmland to the east of London.  The area later became a smelly early industrial area, and eventually included the East India Company docks among other things.  The whole area is now well within the city limits.


More towers are on the east side than the west because the east side faced outside city, toward potentially more competent foes.  Only the Develin Tower and the Brass Mount are on the outer walls, but four towers are on the inner walls, which were built on slightly higher ground.  The Salt Tower used as prison.  The Broad Arrow Tower was first used as wardrobe for storing supplies, and it gets its name from the arrow put on government property.  It was later used as a prison.  The Martin Tower was once known as the Jewel Tower because the crown jewels were stored and displayed there from 1669 until recently, when they were moved to Wellington Barracks.  In 1671, a Col. Blood made a famous but failed attempt to steal the jewels.

Behind the inner walls, you can see the Fusiliers' Museum and White Tower between the Constable and Martin Towers, the Hospital Block between Broad Arrow and Constable, and the New Armouries between Salt and Broad Arrow.


Looking southeast.  The New Armouries are the brick building on the far right.  The Irish Barracks were in the area to their left between the inner and outer walls, called the Outer Ward.  You can see one end of Tower Bridge, built in the late 1800s.


    This photo was taken just south of the Martin Tower, visible on the extreme right where the east and north inner walls meet.  From left to right you can see eastern outer and inner walls, the Fusiliers' Museum, the White Tower, the end of the Wellington Barracks, and the north inner wall. 

 


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