. Inventory and survey of the armouries of the Tower of London . in which were stored large numbers of Service weapons,was called the Small Armoury, and was celebrated for the extraordinarycollection of trophies and fantasies formed of obsolete arms, which, accordingto the guide books, baffled all description. These decorations werecontrived by one Harris, a gunsmith, who made similar decorations forHampton Court and Whitehall, and received a pension for his ingenuity. They included the Witch ofEndor, an organ, Medusashead, a pair of gates, the back-bone of a whale, waves of thesea, fans, cres
. Inventory and survey of the armouries of the Tower of London . in which were stored large numbers of Service weapons,was called the Small Armoury, and was celebrated for the extraordinarycollection of trophies and fantasies formed of obsolete arms, which, accordingto the guide books, baffled all description. These decorations werecontrived by one Harris, a gunsmith, who made similar decorations forHampton Court and Whitehall, and received a pension for his ingenuity. They included the Witch ofEndor, an organ, Medusashead, a pair of gates, the back-bone of a whale, waves of thesea, fans, crescents, pillars andstars made from swords, bayo-nets, pistols, gunlocks andstaff weapons. In the presentArmouries there are severalfeeble modern imitations ofthese trophies, most of whichin course of time will beremoved as being inconsistentwith the historical nature of theCollection. In the year 1744 The inscription on this gun was Quod opus est Marte cui Minerva non desit (vide the Student of Altdorjs Journal, given on page 68).^ Archceological Journal, THE LYONOIS. (From Groses Miliiary Antiquities,) INTRODUCTION—HISTORY AND BUILDINGS. 23 the Small Armoury contained arms and accoutrements for 80,000 men, sixteen chests of 12,000 muskets each, and figures in armour representingHenry V and Henry VI, which, according to the guide book of 1821, weresupplemented by others of John and Henry III, described by Meyrick asin sixteenth and seventeenth century armour. The top floor was usedfor storing tents and other military stores. On the Grand Staircase,which led up from the ground floor to the Armoury, a tablet wasset up recording that This Armoury was honoured by the presenceof Their Majesties King William IV and Queen Adelaide on the 5thof August, 1830. On the night of October 30, 1841, the Grand Storehouse was destroyedby a fire which originated in the Bowyer Tower, at that time used as anarmourers shop, the armourers, of course, being gunsmiths, repairers andcleaners. The
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Keywords: ., bookauthorpa, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectweapons
