London in 1731 by Don Manoel Gonzales
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page 11 of 146 (07%)
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corner, near which is the principal gate and bridge by which coaches
and carriages enter the Tower; and there are two posterns with bridges over the ditch to the wharf on the Thames side, one whereof is called Traitor's Bridge, under which state prisoners used to enter the Tower. The principal places and buildings within the Tower, are (1) The parochial church of St. Peter (for the Tower is a parish of itself, in which are fifty houses and upwards, inhabited by the governor, deputy-governor, warders, and other officers belonging to the fortress). (2) To the eastward of the church stands a noble pile of building, usually called the armoury, begun by King James II. and finished by King William III., being three hundred and ninety feet in length, and sixty in breadth: the stately door-case on the south side is adorned with four columns, entablature and triangular pediment, of the Doric order. Under the pediment are the king's arms, with enrichments of trophy-work, very ornamental. It consists of two lofty rooms, reaching the whole length of the building: in the lower room is a complete train of artillery, consisting of brass cannon and mortars fit to attend an army of a hundred-thousand men; but none of the cannon I observe there were above four-and-twenty pounders; the large battering-pieces, which carry balls of thirty- two and forty-eight pounds weight, I perceive, are in the king's store-houses at Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, and Portsmouth. In the armoury also we find a great many of the little cohorn mortars, so called from the Dutch engineer Cohorn, who invented them for firing a great number of hand-grenades from them at once; with other extraordinary pieces cast at home, or taken from the enemy. |
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