14th Century Tents in the Tower of London

1 screen (claustrum) of woolen cloth (carde) blue on the outside, white on the inside,

18 round houses (domus rotundi), 8 of woolen cloth blue on the outside, green inside,

2 chapels, (cappelle), one of linen cloth (tella linea) with vertical gables, one with four posts,

4 houses of green for hunting,

3 stables, one white in three pieces with four posts 20 feet long,

1 chamber (camera) decorated with crowns,

1 palace of blue cloth, probably the hall 'Westminster' in 15 pieces powdered with roses,

1 'alee',

1 house for the king’s ship the George,

1 hall “Berwick” in three pieces with two doors,

4 round houses with the arms of England,

1 house of the same arms with three posts,

1 house with two posts with two 'aleez' in a set,

1 house of cotton with 20 foot posts,

1 great palatial hall with 6 posts called the hall ”Bermondsey” with two doors and one alee in a set,

2 leather bags,

3 pieces of a tent.

These appear in records of 1346 and 1348. The claustrum and aleez seem to be early examples of the fabric walls and breezeways seen in later sources.

The medieval inventories of the Tower armouries 1320-1410  Roland Thomas Richardson