Tower of London (Inner curtain wall with mural towers, the New Armouries, the King's House and Tower Green)

The Inner Curtain Wall of the Tower of London comprises a circuit of defensive walls with mural towers, together with several residential and administrative buildings abutting the wall's inner face. The walls and towers were constructed in successive campaigns between approximately 1170 and the late 13th century, with later medieval modifications and extensive 19th-century restoration work.

The curtain wall was built primarily of squared and coursed ragstone with ashlar dressings. The towers have lead and copper roofs. The Bell Tower and the lower courses of curtain wall extending to the Bloody Tower date from around 1170. The Wakefield Tower, the Lanthorn Tower (demolished and rebuilt in the 19th century), and the curtain wall and postern between them were built around 1220 to 1240 for Henry III. A watergate, later incorporated into the Bloody Tower, was also constructed in this period. The curtain wall and towers running from the Devereaux Tower in the north-west corner to the Salt Tower in the south-east corner were built between 1238 and 1275. The west side of the curtain wall, including the Beauchamp Tower, was constructed between 1275 and 1285 for Edward I. The southern side of the curtain wall was heightened and crenellated in 1339. The Bloody Tower was remodelled between 1360 and 1362. Restoration was carried out during the 19th century, principally by Anthony Salvin from the 1840s through to the 1860s.

The curtain walls have gunports, loops, and crenellation that were reworked during the 19th century. The west side of the curtain wall features a fine continuous line of embrasures built in late 13th-century brick serving arrow loops.

The Bell Tower, dating from around 1190 to 1200, is octagonal in plan at ground-floor level and cylindrical above. It rises two storeys above a solid base with an ashlar plinth. It has restored loops and early 18th-century keyed square-headed architraves to the upper windows. A late 17th-century wooden bell turret sits atop. The interior, accessible from the King's House, has a ground floor with an irregular-shaped lobby. An 18th-century brick round-arched entry leads to an inner chamber with a garderobe in a recess, an original splayed embrasure to the south, and a pointed barrel vault. A skewed two-centred arch opens to a vaulted pentagonal-shaped chamber with pointed embrasures and an acutely pointed vault featuring a foliate-carved boss and square ribs springing from corbels with flattened stiff-leaf carving. A pointed-arched doorway leads to an upper room with a stair (vice) to the roof. A blocked pointed-arched doorway to the east formerly gave access to the constable's house, which stood on the site of the King's House. A skewed stone-flagged passage leads to a barrel-vaulted garderobe chamber built within the thickness of the main wall. The circular main room has moulded rear-arches to windows, a blocked wall passage to the south-west, a 14th-century square-headed cupboard in the north wall, and a 14th-century fireplace (with its hood removed) in the east wall. The roof was heightened and given a domed form in the 17th century; the ring beam of the original roof remains visible beneath.

The Beauchamp Tower dates from around 1281 and was restored by Salvin between 1851 and 1853. It is D-shaped in plan with three storeys and rectangular turrets to north and south. The tower has restored loops. The east elevation has a pointed-arched doorway, a mid-19th-century two-light window in the Decorated style, two two-light trefoil-headed windows, and a Caernarvon-arched two-light window. The west elevation has 19th-century square-headed two-light windows. The interior is notable for the survival of late 13th-century brick. The ground-floor chamber has 13th-century pointed brick arches to five embrasures, with a 19th-century fireplace inserted in the south-west embrasure. A pointed-arched north doorway leads to a passage ending in a garderobe. A similar doorway leads to a stair (vice) in the south turret. A pointed-arched doorway from the stair gives access to the first-floor chamber, which has five similar embrasures including a late 13th-century square-headed fireplace (with its hood removed) to the south-west, a pointed-arched north doorway, and a pointed barrel-vaulted passage leading to a garderobe. A pointed-arched doorway opens to the south wall walk.

The Devereaux Tower, in the north-west corner and dating from 1238 to 1275, has an irregular D-shaped plan with a south-east staircase turret. It was much rebuilt from the mid-18th century in brick. The south front comprises a two-storey, three-window range with keyed segmental arches over sash windows and a 20th-century door. Beneath this elevation is a pointed-arched doorway, hidden by early 16th-century vaulted brick casemates with smoke vents. These are bordered on the east side by an early 16th-century stone wall with offset buttresses, a blocked doorway to a canted corner, and two wide Tudor-arched entries. This formed the east elevation of an ordnance office that was vacated in 1672 and demolished in 1714. The interior has a ground-floor chamber of two bays with quadripartite and tripartite vaults with chamfered ribs. It contains a 20th-century replacement of a 13th-century fireplace, a pointed-arched doorway to a stair with a garderobe at mezzanine level, and three late 13th-century round-headed embrasures. A pointed-arched doorway from the west wall walk gives access to the first floor. The upper level was modified as a gun platform in 1683 and 1715, when a second floor was inserted.

The Flint Tower and Brick Tower, each rebuilt in the mid-19th century, are D-shaped in plan with square-headed windows, pointed-arched doorways, and corbelled parapets. They flank the Bowyer Tower, which dates from 1238 to 1275 but was refaced in the mid-19th century. The Bowyer Tower is D-shaped in plan with a south turret and rises two storeys. It has an original loop to the west of the ground floor and mid-19th-century two-light windows and a pointed-arched doorway. The interior has a ground-floor room with a quadripartite vault with chamfered ribs. This room also contains a pair of 15th or early 16th-century square-headed cupboards, an arched recess to a blocked 13th-century fireplace to the west, and a pointed-arched doorway to a stair (vice) in the south turret.

The Martin Tower, in the north-east corner, dates from 1238 to 1275 but was much altered and refaced in brick during the late 17th and 18th centuries. It is a D-plan angle tower with two rectangular turrets to the west and north. Originally two storeys, it was heightened to three in the late 17th century. It has restored loops and mid-19th-century two-light windows. The west elevation has sash windows and a widened Tudor-arched doorway beneath an arch carrying 18th-century external stairs to a door of around 1725. This door, with six panels, is set in a keyed semicircular arched architrave with a fanlight and a bracketed flat hood. A sundial is set above a pedimented doorway of around 1725 that opens to the south wall walk. The interior has a pointed-arched doorway to a garderobe in the north turret and an altered 15th-century doorway to a stair (vice) in the south turret. The ground-floor room is hexagonal-shaped with five embrasures. The first floor is entered from the stair and features a widened embrasure with a hollow-moulded rear-arch, a pointed-arched doorway to a garderobe in the north turret, and a barrel-vaulted passage to the west wall walk. Five embrasures were widened into window openings from the early 18th century and cut across by a late 17th-century mezzanine floor with turned balusters to a stair and balcony and bolection-moulded panelling.

The Constable Tower, dating from 1238 to 1275 and rebuilt in the mid-19th century, is D-shaped in plan with similar features to the Brick Tower and Flint Tower.

The Broad Arrow Tower dates from 1238 to 1275 and was restored by Salvin between 1855 and 1857. It is D-shaped in plan with rectangular turrets to north and south. Two storeys high, with a second floor added in the late 19th century, it has restored loops and mid-19th-century two-light windows. A restored west window has one trefoil light. There is a Caernarvon-arched west doorway to the north turret, a pointed-arched doorway with an ancient door to the south wall walk, and a late 19th-century pointed-arched doorway to the north wall walk. The interior has a ground-floor room with pointed embrasures and timbered ceilings. A 13th-century dog-leg stair is in the north turret. The first floor has a hooded 20th-century fireplace (replacing the original), a pointed-arched mural passage, and three embrasures.

Adjoining the Salt Tower is a blocked segmental-pointed arch of two orders forming a postern. The Salt Tower itself dates from 1238 to 1275. It is a three-quarter cylindrical-plan angle turret with remains of a cross wall extending east to the outer curtain wall, built to bar the inner ward. It has a basement and two storeys, with an inserted upper floor. It has restored loops and restored pointed-arched doorways to the curtain wall walks. A west window has two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil above. A two-light trefoil-headed window is at first-floor level, and there is a similar restored two-light window and a lancet. The interior has a short mural passage to a restored pointed-arched doorway in the north-west corner opening to a pentagonal-shaped room with five embrasures. A square-headed doorway from the stair (vice) leads to a mural chamber in the east curtain. The first floor has a pentagonal-shaped chamber with a 13th-century hooded fireplace in the south wall and a garderobe reached by a few steps up the stair.

The Lanthorn Tower was rebuilt in 1883 and has lancets and two-light windows.

The Wakefield Tower was built between 1220 and 1240 as a circular donjon for Henry III, with his privy chamber at first-floor level. It was restored between 1866 and 1869 by Anthony Salvin. The two-storey cylindrical tower has an ashlar plinth. A square-headed east door provides access. There is a late 19th-century doorway to the wall walk. A transomed first-floor east window has three Caernarvon-arched lower lights and three trefoil-headed upper lights. Similar late 19th-century one- and two-light transomed windows are on the west side. A 20th-century square-headed doorway is to the north. The interior has an octagonal ground-floor room with tall chamfered round-arched loops to south recesses. The mid-20th-century timber ceiling is a reconstruction of the original. The octagonal first-floor room is entered through a tall arched passage and east recess. It has an aumbry, piscina, and round-arched sedilia, indicating its original use as an oratory. The north-west recess was made into a doorway around 1870. There is a restored hooded fireplace. A blank north-east recess probably accommodated a chair of estate. The 19th-century vault springs from 13th-century wall shafts with moulded capitals framing the oratory. In February 1913, the Wakefield Tower became the target of suffragette militancy. Leonora Cohen from Leeds, one of the leaders of the local branch of the Women's Social and Political Union, carried out an attack. The Union used militant tactics including attacks on property in its campaign to win votes for women. Between 1913 and 1914 it committed several attacks on art galleries and museums. Cohen went to the Wakefield Tower with an iron bar hidden in her coat and smashed the glass of the case containing insignia of the Order of Merit. She was immediately arrested and committed for trial at the London Sessions. Cohen, whose husband owned a jewellery shop, conducted her defence and produced as a witness a jeweller who stated that the damage she had caused amounted to less than five pounds, a lower figure than the seven pounds with which she was charged. When the jury was unable to agree the exact amount of damage, Cohen, who never denied smashing the glass, was acquitted.

The Bloody Tower originated as a watergate in the 1220s. Its vault and upper stages were built between 1360 and 1362. The interior was divided in 1603. The top parapet and windows were restored in 1868 to 1869 by Salvin. The tower is rectangular in plan with a south-east stair turret and rises two storeys. The south elevation has an early 13th-century chamfered pointed-arched entry, a portcullis, a similar arch, and 16th-century studded doors. There is a mid-14th-century two-light trefoil-headed window to the east. The north elevation has two mid-14th-century chamfered pointed arches, each of two orders and separated by a portcullis slot. Two late 19th-century two-light windows are above and to the east. The west elevation has an early 17th-century two-light chamfered stone-mullioned and transomed window and a 17th-century studded door set in a 14th-century double-chamfered pointed arched doorway. The interior has a fine 1360s vault to the entrance passage with lions' heads and lions' masks to the corbels. A 14th-century pointed-arched doorway opens to an early 13th-century porter's lodge to the east, which has a flattened barrel vault, remains of a small rectangular window, an original entrance doorway to the north, and 16th-century cupboards inserted in the south and east walls. A 14th-century pointed-arched doorway from the west wall walk gives access to the first floor. A small south apartment contains 16th-century portcullis and lifting machinery and a Caernarvon-arched doorway to a vaulted garderobe and stair (with a 17th-century plank door). This apartment is divided by an early 17th-century partition with horizontal planking and a door from the main room, which has a 1360s patterned tile floor and a mid-14th-century square-headed fireplace with an original bread oven.

Attached to the inner sides of the curtain wall are the following buildings.

Number 8 Tower Green is a pair of semi-detached houses built as Warders' Quarters between 1866 and 1869 by Anthony Salvin. They are of red brick with half-timbering to the attic storey, cross-gabled old plain tile roofs, and brick stacks. The plan is double-depth. The houses are in the Domestic Revival style. They rise two storeys plus attic and present a three-window range to a double-gabled elevation. A bracketed pentice roof shelters two plank doors to the centre. Segmental brick arches are over one- to three-light casements with horizontal glazing bars. There are carved pendentives to the carved wood bargeboards. The interior was noted as having been remodelled in the mid-20th century.

Number 7 Tower Green comprises two houses, now converted to flats. The house to the left is early 18th century with possible earlier origins. It is built of Flemish bond brick with a plain tile gambrel roof and a brick lateral stack. The plan is double-depth. It rises three storeys plus attic and presents a two-window range. A six-panelled door with an overlight is set in a moulded wood architrave with brackets to a flat hood. Flat brick arches are over a mid-19th-century horned twelve-pane sash to the right and early 19th-century twelve-pane sashes. There is a stone-coped parapet and a six-pane sash to a dormer. The interior was not inspected but is likely to be of interest. The house to the right is early to mid-17th century with later alterations. It is probably timber-framed. The gabled front has a plaster gable over mid-18th-century brick cladding and a gabled plain tile roof. The plan is double-depth right-angle. It rises two storeys plus attic and presents a one-window range. Flat brick arches are over a late 19th-century half-glazed door and a one-light window with glazing bars. A timber lintel is over a late 19th-century three-light casement with glazing bars. A two-light casement is in the attic.

The King's House serves as the Lieutenant's lodgings, now the house of the Resident Governor and offices. It dates from around 1540, with late 17th and 18th-century additions and alterations. It is timber-framed with ogee-bracing to square panels. Late 17th and 18th-century brick facing has been applied to the ground floor and to the rear. It has cross-gabled old plain tile roofs and brick ridge, end, and rear lateral stacks. The plan is L-shaped. It rises three storeys plus attic, with four gabled bays to each range. The west bay of the south wing is obscured by the west wing. The brick ground floor has a one-storey extension of 1663 in the angle of the wings, with segmental brick arches over eight-pane sashes with thick glazing bars and early 19th-century twelve-pane sashes. An early 19th-century six-panelled door is set in a moulded wood architrave. Late 17th-century stucco facing is applied to three first-floor bays of the west wing, with a pedimented cornice over early 19th-century twelve-pane sashes. The interior has 18th-century panelling and an early 19th-century stick-baluster staircase from ground to first floor, from which it continues as a late 17th-century open-well staircase with a ramped handrail set on turned balusters with finely-carved brackets to the treads and a bolection-panelled dado. A first-floor room to the east has a large arched kitchen fireplace. The mid-16th-century first-floor hall occupies the penultimate western bay of the south range. This was floored in the early 17th century when an upper floor was inserted. The second-floor room has a mid-16th-century three-bay roof from which queen posts, lateral bracing, and braced tie beams were removed for the early 17th-century chamber. This chamber has an elaborate memorial tablet by the fireplace erected in 1608 to commemorate the defeat of the Gunpowder Plot. The building was noted as having queen-post roofs with butt purlins. There is access to mural passages of the inner curtain wall and to the Bell Tower. The basement of the south range has medieval masonry associated with the constable's house built between 1361 and 1366 on the same site.

Numbers 4 and 5 Tower Green form two houses dating from the late 17th century with possible earlier origins. They are built of English bond brick with cross-gabled old plain tile roofs and brick ridge and end stacks. The plan is double-depth. They rise three storeys plus attic and present a five-window range. Segmental brick arches are over a late 18th-century six-panelled door with an overlight to the left and a late 19th-century six-panelled door (two panels glazed) to the right. Segmental brick arches are over two early to mid-18th-century twelve-pane sashes with glazing bars to the left and early 19th-century twelve-pane sashes. The second and gabled attic storeys have flat brick arches over late 19th-century two- to three-light casements with glazing bars. There are raised storey bands. The interior was not inspected but is likely to be of interest.

Number 2 Tower Green is a house dating from around 1700 to 1720. It is built of Flemish bond brick with a hipped old plain tile roof and a brick lateral stack. The plan is double-depth. It rises four storeys plus basement and presents a three-window range. Carved brackets support a segmental hood over a segmental-arched doorway with an 18th-century fielded right-panelled door (two panels glazed). Segmental brick arches are over early 19th-century eight-pane sashes and nine-pane sashes to the upper storey. There are raised storey bands and a stone-coped parapet. The interior was not inspected but is likely to be of interest.

Number 1 Tower Green is a house of the mid-18th century. It is built of Flemish bond brick with a hipped old plain tile roof and brick rear lateral stacks. The plan is double-depth. It rises three storeys and presents a symmetrical five-window range. An 18th-century six-panelled door with an overlight is set in a pedimented doorcase. Flat brick arches are over early 19th-century twelve-pane sashes and six-pane sashes to the upper storey. There are raised storey bands and a stone-coped parapet. The interior was not inspected but is likely to be of interest.

The New Armouries was built as a small arms store between 1663 and 1664 and now serves as a museum and offices. It is of English bond red brick with a half-hipped old tile roof and brick stacks. The plan is U-shaped with projecting wings flanking a central range. It rises two storeys plus attic and presents an eight-window range with fenestration arranged 2:4:2. A 20th-century heraldic cartouche set in a finely-carved trophy is placed above a stone doorcase with a Doric entablature and engaged half-columns framing bolection-panelled double doors. Six-panelled doors with overlights are on the inner sides of the wings. Cambered gauged brick arches are over early 19th-century twenty-pane ground-floor sashes and sixteen-pane first-floor sashes. A raised brick string course runs across the facade. A moulded wood coved cornice, continued across the fronts of the wings, crowns the building. Moulded wood cornices are over flat-roofed dormers. The four-bay side walls have similar fenestration. The right-side wall has two fine reset carved trophies of 1780, with kettledrums, guns, and other items around a cartouche holding the Ordnance Coat of Arms. The interior has a main space to the centre with a central row of timber posts braced to main beams of the ceiling, which has joists of large scantling. The museum houses a fine carved stone pediment by John Young from the late 17th-century Grand Storehouse, which was destroyed in a fire in 1841.