Fires
By the end of the seventeenth century military thinking had evolved, preferring multiple storage depots spread across the country. The Tower now became one of several such depots, rather than the single great storehouse of past centuries, but the Ordnance Office still retained a dominant role in the castle, rebuilding and refurbishing large areas. Sometimes this was due to changes in use, but on three occasions it was in response to a major fire. A fierce blaze in 1774 led to most of the remaining older rooms south of the Tower being rebuilt as a new Ordnance administration office, which was finished in 1780 but devastated by fire in 1788, when rebuilding replaced the old Great Hall as well with a new, purpose built, storage space. The third great fire, perhaps the single greatest disaster in the Tower's history, occurred in 1841, destroying the Grand Storehouse (opposite the White Tower against the north curtain wall) and its entire contents.
Departures
Four mainstays of castle life ceased during this period. The Royal Mint moved out after five hundred years in 1812 and the Tower Menagerie closed in 1835 after six hundred years, while the Record Office left during the later half of the nineteenth century. In 1855 the War Office took over the organisation of ordnance and the old Ordnance Office rooms went into decline. Even a brief renaissance in defensive building – carried out between 1848-52 to help the Tower enforce control in London against the perceived violent threat of the Chartist movement – marked the last time any serious work was done to facilitate the castle's role in maintaining official power.
Back to Index / Next Page
