The Last Great Epoch
in the History of the Castle.
A prince of consummate taste and fine
conceptions, George the Fourth meditated, and, what
is better, accomplished the restoration of the castle
to more than its original grandeur. He was singularly
fortunate in his architect. Sir Jeffry Wyatville
was to him what William of Wykeham had been to Edward
the Third. All the incongruities of successive
reigns were removed: all, or nearly all, the injuries
inflicted by time repaired; and when the work so well
commenced was finished, the structure took its place
as the noblest and most majestic palatial residence
in existence.
To enter into a full detail of Wyatville’s
achievements is beyond the scope of the present work;
but a brief survey may be taken of them. Never
was lofty design more fully realised. View the
castle on the north, with its grand terrace of nearly
a thousand feet in length, and high embattled walls;
its superb façade, comprehending the stately Brunswick
Tower; the Cornwall Tower, with its gorgeous window;
George the Fourth’s Tower, including the great
oriel window of the state drawing-room; the restored
Stuart buildings, and those of Henry the Seventh and
of Elizabeth; the renovated Norman Tower; the Powder
Tower, with the line of walls as far as the Winchester
Tower; view this, and then turn to the
east, and behold another front of marvellous beauty
extending more than four hundred feet from north to
south, and displaying the Prince of Wales’s
Tower, the Chester, Clarence, and Victoria Towers all
of which have been raised above their former level,
and enriched by great projecting windows; behold
also the beautiful sunken garden, with its fountain
and orangery, its flights of steps, and charming pentagonal
terrace; proceed to the south front, of
which the Victoria Tower, with its machicolated battlements
and oriel window, forms so superb a feature at the
eastern corner, the magnificent gateway receiving
its name from George the Fourth, flanked by the York
and Lancaster Towers, and opening in a continued line
from the Long Walk; look at Saint George’s Gate,
Edward the Third’s renovated tower, and the
octagon tower beyond it; look at all these, and if
they fail to excite a due appreciation of the genius
that conceived them, gaze at the triumph of the whole,
and which lords over all the rest the Round
Tower gaze at it, and not here alone, but
from the heights of the great park, from the vistas
of the home park, from the bowers of Eton, the meads
of Clewer and Datchet, from the Brocas, the gardens
of the naval knights from a hundred points;
view it at sunrise when the royal standard is hoisted,
or at sunset when it is lowered, near or at a distance,
and it will be admitted to be the work of a prodigious
architect!
But Wyatville’s alterations
have not yet been fully considered. Pass through
Saint George’s Gateway, and enter the grand quadrangle
to which it leads. Let your eye wander round
it, beginning with the inner sides of Edward the Third’s
Tower and George the Fourth’s Gateway, and proceeding
to the beautiful private entrance to the sovereign’s
apartments, the grand range of windows of the eastern
corridor, the proud towers of the gateway to the household,
the tall pointed windows of Saint George’s Hall,
the state entrance tower, with its noble windows,
until it finally rests upon the Stuart buildings and
King John’s Tower, at the angle of the pile.
Internally the alterations made by
the architects have been of corresponding splendour
and importance. Around the south and east sides
of the court at which you are gazing, a spacious corridor
has been constructed, five hundred and fifty feet
in length, and connected with the different suites
of apartments on these sides of the quadrangle; extensive
alterations have been made in the domestic offices;
the state apartments have been repaired and rearranged;
Saint George’s Hall has been enlarged by the
addition of the private chapel (the only questionable
change), and restored to the Gothic style; and the
Waterloo Chamber built to contain George the Fourth’s
munificent gift to the nation of the splendid collection
of portraits now occupying it.
“The first and most remarkable
characteristic of operations of Sir Jeffry Wyatville
on the exterior,” observes Mr. Poynter, “is
the judgment with which he has preserved the castle
of Edward the Third. Some additions have been
made to it, and with striking effect as
the Brunswick Tower, and the western tower of George
the Fourth’s Gate-way which so nobly terminates
the approach from the great park. The more modern
buildings on the north side have also been assimilated
to the rest; but the architect has yielded to no temptation
to substitute his own design for that of William of
Wykeham, and no small difficulties have been combated
and overcome for the sake of preserving the outline
of the edifice, and maintaining the towers in their
original position.”
The Winchester Tower, originally inhabited
by William of Wykeham, was bestowed upon Sir Jeffry
Wyatville as a residence by George the Fourth; and,
on the resignation of the distinguished architect,
was continued to him for life by the present queen.
The works within the castle were continued
during the reign of William the Fourth, and at its
close the actual cost of the buildings had reached
the sum of 771,000, pounds and it has been asserted
that the general expenditure up to the present time
has exceeded a million and a half of money.
The view from the summit of the Round
Tower is beyond description magnificent, and commands
twelve counties namely, Middlesex, Essex,
Hertford, Berks, Bucks, Oxford, Wilts, Hants, Surrey,
Sussex, Kent, and Bedford; while on a clear day the
dome of Saint Paul’s may be distinguished from
it. This tower was raised thirty-three feet by
Sir Jeffry Wyatville, crowned with a machicolated
battlement, and surmounted with a flag-tower.
The circumference of the castle is
4180 feet; the length from east to west, 1480 feet;
and the area, exclusive of the terraces, about twelve
acres.
For the present the works are suspended.
But it is to be hoped that the design of Sir Jeffry
Wyatville will be fully carried out in the lower ward,
by the removal of such houses on the north as would
lay Saint George’s Chapel open to view from
this side; by the demolition of the old incongruous
buildings lying westward of the bastion near the Hundred
Steps, by the opening out of the pointed roof of the
library; the repair and reconstruction in their original
style of the Curfew, the Garter, and the Salisbury
Towers; and the erection of a lower terrace extending
outside the castle, from the bastion above mentioned
to the point of termination of the improvements, and
accessible from the town; the construction of which
terrace would necessitate the removal of the disfiguring
and encroaching houses on the east side of Thames Street.
This accomplished, Crane’s ugly buildings removed,
and the three western towers laid open to the court,
the Horse-shoe Cloisters consistently repaired, Windsor
Castle would indeed be complete. And fervently
do we hope that this desirable event may be identified
with the reign of Victoria.