The Salt Tower

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The Salt Tower


The ground floor of this tower would have been used for storage. Archers would also have stationed here if the Tower was under threat.
The Salt Tower

The upper chamber is very fine with many examples of prisoners' graffiti.  It contains a display showing the different kinds of treatment received by the prisoners who were held here.

This tower is part of Henry III’s late 1230s curtain wall which rings the castle. Built on the fortress’s south-eastern corner, this tower overlooked the river. Archers could shoot arrows through the arrow-loops in this room.

Upstairs was a comfortable chamber with a huge fireplace and decorative window. The tower’s exterior and windows were restored in 1857-8.

Prisoners at this tower

Prisoners include John Balliol, a Scottish king imprisoned here in 1296 for three years, Hew Draper, an innkeeper from Bristol accused of practising sorcery, and Giovanni Battista Castiglione, an Italian tutor who used to carry Princess Elizabeth's private letters to her when she was imprisoned in the Tower.

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