Pilgrim Ways

and Fisher were occupants of the Bell Tower. So, too,, was John Leslie, Bishop of Ross (1527-96),who had been a member of Mary Stuart‟s Privy Council and was her chief ecclesiastical adviser. Passing from the Bell Tower to the Traitors‟ Gate, the pilgrim can stand at the place where the prisoners were brought from Westminster following trial and sentence. It was here that St.Thomas More was brought from Lambeth Palace after he declined to swear that the marriage between Henry and Anne Boleyn was true and lawful, that her progeny were the true heirs to the throne.. The Traitor‟s Gate is also where More bid farewell to his oldest daughter, Margaret Roper, on July 1st 1534. Others who also passed this way included Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard,Thomas Cromwell, and the Earl of Essex .

The Bloody Tower To the left of the Traitor‟s Gate is the Bloody Tower, originally known as the Garden Tower.

This is said to be the scene of the murder at the behest of Henry VII (or Richard III?: the jury is still out) of Edward V and his brother, Richard, Duke of York, the young sons of Edward IV. Here, too, the Jesuits, Garnet and Oldcorne, executed in connection with the Gunpowder Plot, were kept. Nearby is the White Tower - standing at the centre of the enclosure. Built in about 1078 by Gandulf, Bishop of Rochester, for William the Conqueror, the White Tower was designed to signify the supremacy of the king over his city. It was traditional for monarchs to be lodged there before going to Westminster Abbey for their Coronation. The surrounding buildings were gradually extended over the centuries and among them is St.Thomas‟s Tower and an oratory dedicated to St.Thomas Becket. The Horse Armoury, situated within the White Tower, was the room from which prisoners would be taken after interrogation and led down to the torture chamber. In the Catholic Truth Society pamphlet, The Tower of London (1979), J.J.Dwyer says that here “in that subterranean hell, far from all human aid or sympathy, was obtained the „evidence‟ by which the agonized sufferers convicted themselves and any other people whose names might come into their minds.”

Little Ease, Great Suffering Next to this is a dungeon which was known as the „Little Ease‟. There was insufficient room to stand upright or to lie down. Guy Fawkes was kept here, chained to a ring in the floor.

Other frequently used forms of torture included the rack and, in the case of Fr.John Gerard, for instance, hanging by the wrists. When he entered the torture chamber he saw “ranged divers sorts of racks and other instruments of torture. Some of these were displayed before me, and told me that I should have to taste them.” Fr.Gerard‟s hands were screwed into two iron rings and he was then suspended from a height which ensured that his feet did not touch the ground. When he fainted they poured vinegar down his throat. Through the intervention of the Lieutenant the tortures were suspended after about twenty days and he was transferred to the Salt Tower. While he was here a Catholic gentleman, Francis Arden, was also held prisoner. He is thought to have been one of the Warwickshire Ardens wh o Subsequently, Fr.Gerard was moved to the Cradle Tower and one night in 1579 two Jesuit lay brothers, John Lily and Richard Fulwood, came to the Tower wharf in a boat. A rope was thrown and Fr.Gerard and Francis Arden made good their escape.

The Salt Tower Another Catholic held in the Salt Tower was St.Henry Walpole who, while observing the execution of St.Edmund Campion at Tyburn, had famously been sprinkled by the priest‟s