I’ve written about Cow Tower before when I was wittering on about the parish of St. Helen’s. However, I’d heard that the gate that has for years prevented people entering the site has been removed, so I thought I’d check on that arrangement.
And the gate has indeed been opened, whether by vandalism or design, I don’t know.
This means for the first time, I’ve been able to see inside the whole structure. To repeat what I wrote before:
“The tower was built between 1398 and 1399, used to defend against foreign invasion and local troublemakers. The latter caused the city some problems during Kett’s Rebellion in 1549, and the structure was damaged during that time.
The stairs that go up to the higher parts of the tower, which is all inaccessible now since the floors have collapsed. Much was demolished during the late eighteenth century, including many city walls and towers, but this survived. This was perhaps as it came under the care of the Great Hospital, who had no real need to demolish it. The building was patched up in the nineteenth century, but this was done by sloppy civil engineers and they caused large cracks to appear by their use of modern cement.”
A former fireplace that I haven’t seen before.
And the interior arrangement. Annoyingly, my camera lens was obviously not impeccably clean as there’s a blur on some of the photos which is sub-optimal.