Through the years after Sir Thomas Beauchamp, many others were imprisoned here and many left their mark. Carved into the walls of this tower are a myriad of impressive designs and inscriptions. It was sobering to stand there and look at carvings, each one representing a real person who waited for their fate there. Also sobering to realize many met their doom just outside its doors.
The walls are literally covered with carvings of figures and inscriptions. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, England was experiencing a time of religious and political upheaval and Beauchamp Tower was in its heyday as a prison.
I chose some of my favorite inscriptions and "translated" them into today's English because I got weary of wading through all the "maketh"s and "doth"s and "hath"s as well as through all of the creatively spelled nouns, verbs and adjectives such as: rasyd, pointe, unhappie, fyndth thogh, fortun, vertue, trouth, chasyth, cawseth, pasyens, etc, etc. I thought you might appreciate my thoughtfulness as it was a virtual foreign language! As I plowed my way through the inscriptions as reproduced on the internet, sometimes I couldn't figure out exactly what the word was meant to be so I took my best stab at it.
So with no further ado, here are the inscriptions as I read them.
A passage perilous makes a port pleasant.
Arthur Poole 1568
Unhappy is that man whose acts procure the misery of this house in prison to endure.
Probably Thomas Clarke 1579
The more affliction we endure for Christ in this world, the more glory we shall get with Christ in the world to come.
Philip Howard
As virtue makes life, so sin causes death.
Thomas Bawdewin 1585
No hope is hard or vain that we can attain.
unsure, possibly Arthur Poole or his brother Edmund 1568
It is the point of a wise man to try and then trust; for happy is he who finds one that is just.
probably Thomas Clarke 1578
Thomas Miagh
Close prisoner 32 weeks, 224 days, 5376 hours.
T. Salmon 1622
Better it is to be in the house of mourning than in the house of banqueting. The heart of the wise is in the mourning house. It is much better to have some chastening than to have overmuch liberty. There is a time for all things, a time to be born and a time to die, and the day of death is better than the day of birth. There is an end to all things and the end of a thing is better than the beginning. Be wise and patient in trouble for wisdom defends as well as money. Use well the time of prosperity and remember the time of misfortune.
William Rame 1559.
You that these beasts do well to see, may note with ease that they were made here. Within the borders there may be found four brothers names.
carved by John Dudley referring to his brothers Robert, Ambrose, Guildford and Henry
And probably the most honest and poignant inscription which is a bit of an understatement as well, this one that remains anonymous:
O unhappy man that I think myself to be.
hamp Tower was built during the reign of Edward I, who was one of
the most innovative castle builders of the medieval period. It is of
exceptional significance as a royal residential tower. Built mostly of
brick, but faced externally with stone, the Beauchamp was one of the
first large-scale uses of brick in England after the Roman period.
The tower, adapted for important prisoners over the centuries, was named after its first prisoner Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/buildingconservation/Profilebeauchamptower#sthash.KhzA4nrA.dpuf
The tower, adapted for important prisoners over the centuries, was named after its first prisoner Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/buildingconservation/Profilebeauchamptower#sthash.KhzA4nrA.dpuf
The
Beauchamp Tower was built during the reign of Edward I, who was one of
the most innovative castle builders of the medieval period. It is of
exceptional significance as a royal residential tower. Built mostly of
brick, but faced externally with stone, the Beauchamp was one of the
first large-scale uses of brick in England after the Roman period.
The tower, adapted for important prisoners over the centuries, was named after its first prisoner Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/buildingconservation/Profilebeauchamptower#sthash.KhzA4nrA.dpuf
The tower, adapted for important prisoners over the centuries, was named after its first prisoner Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/buildingconservation/Profilebeauchamptower#sthash.KhzA4nrA.dpuf
The
Beauchamp Tower was built during the reign of Edward I, who was one of
the most innovative castle builders of the medieval period. It is of
exceptional significance as a royal residential tower. Built mostly of
brick, but faced externally with stone, the Beauchamp was one of the
first large-scale uses of brick in England after the Roman period.
The tower, adapted for important prisoners over the centuries, was named after its first prisoner Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/buildingconservation/Profilebeauchamptower#sthash.KhzA4nrA.dpuf
The tower, adapted for important prisoners over the centuries, was named after its first prisoner Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/buildingconservation/Profilebeauchamptower#sthash.KhzA4nrA.dpuf
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