"quandam turellam ultra portam mansi sui in Civitate praedicta, petra et calce de novo construere et Kernellare"
Granted at Sheen, by privy seal.
Wm. Servat was an alderman of Walbrook Ward 1309 and 1318. He sat in Parliament in 1309 and 1313 and was a Collector of Customs (Beavan, I. 216, 163, 380) for the King. It has been argued that this tower was built to defend Servat's stock (Williams, 1975) but Coulson is dismissive of this idea as maligning of city peace keeping. Certainly status consideration must have been foremost in obtaining such a licence (and building such an expensive tower), but surely security can not be entirely dismissed as a contributing factor. Coulson writes "The privy seal warrent was for Servat 'to kernel and fortify as strongly (i.e. here as ostentatiously) as he pleases a torelle which he has made over the porte of his house in London'. The Great Seal clerks toned it down to standard form, it seems".
Original source is
(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms.)
Significant later source are;
More details about licences to crenellate can be found here.
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