J - The Jewel Tower. A 14th-century surviving element of the
Palace of Westminster built between 1365 and 1366 to house the personal treasure of King
Edward III. The original tower was a three-storey,
crenellated stone building which occupied a secluded part of the palace and was protected by a
moat linked to the
River Thames. The tower continued to be used for storing the monarch's treasure and personal possessions until 1512, when a fire in the palace caused King
Henry VIII to relocate his court to the nearby
Palace of Whitehall.
At the end of the 16th century the
House of Lords began to use the tower to store its parliamentary records, building a house alongside it for the use of the parliamentary clerk, and extensive improvements followed in 1621. The tower continued as the Lords' records office through the 18th century and several renovations were carried out to improve its
fire-proofing and comfort, creating the present appearance of the tower. It was one of only four buildings to survive the
burning of Parliament in 1834, after which the records were moved to the
Victoria Tower, built for the purpose of storing archives, and part of the new neo-Gothic Palace of Westminster.
In 1869 the Jewel Tower was taken over by the newly formed
Standard Weights and Measures Department, which used it for storing and testing official weights and measures until 1938. In 1948 the building was placed into the care of the
Ministry of Works, which repaired the damage inflicted to the tower during the
Second World War and restored the building extensively, clearing the surrounding area and opening the tower to tourists. Today the Jewel Tower is managed by
English Heritage.