3-082-922 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Curfew Tower, Windsor Castle, 1895. 'A work of considerable interest - the connection of the secret passage under Thames Street with the Curfew Tower - has just been carried out. This early specimen of the subterranean sallyports constructed during the feudal period was accidentally discovered about forty years ago, during the progress of some drainage operations. Very few people are aware of its existence, as it has been practically closed...Workmen have now linked the upper extremity of the sallyport with a small apartment attached to the belfry-tower, whence this remarkable example of early masonry can be more easily visited. The passage, on leaving the Curfew Tower, runs down inside the castle wall and then under Thames Street and the shops on the west side of that thoroughfare towards the river. At the time of our correspondent's visit the bottom of the underground passage was choked with debris, and the precise locality of its exit has, it is believed, never been ascertained. The accompanying drawings were sketched entirely from memory. They give, however, a tolerably fair idea of the aspect of this curious relic of the restless times which rendered necessary such a means of escape from the castle'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.