05.09.2011 – 05.09.2011  22 °C

A nice early start today as I planned to see the Tower of London! I would say that the Tower is easily the number one attraction here in London and it is easy to see why! A part of the Tower is the original fortress built by William the Conqueror and was finished in 1078!!! How incredible is it that a building started almost 1000 years ago is still standing and is still begin used today!

Entry is via one of the portcullises into the outer bailey. From here you then have to enter the inner bailey to enter the fortress. The outer bailey actually also contains the medieval castle built by Henry III and it is within the outer walls that he built his chambers and meeting rooms. I guess it is a practical way to use your outer wall, build rooms inside, but it also feels a tad unsafe in that this is also the area that is going to be attacked first??

The tour of the Tower starts inside the outer bailey walls where the Yeoman (Beefeater) guard takes you for a quick walk through the fortress and its thousands of years of history. You start where Ann Boleyn was first brought into the tower the day before her coronation to Henry VIII, it is ironic but two steps ahead is also the place where she was last brought into the Tower (the Traitors Gate) for her execution!

We then went around to see the where the Ravens are kept. There is a legend in the Tower that if the ravens should ever leave the Tower then the monarchy and the empire of Great Britain will fall. To ensure that the ravens don’t leave the Tower, King Charles II had a permanent aviary built on site that houses 4 pairs of ravens. All 8 ravens have their wings clipped and are well fed so it is highly unlikely that the birds will ever leave the tower!

From the Ravens coop we moved onto the history of the White Tower. The White Tower is the “Tower” that is always photographed and is actually all that I thought was at the Tower of London! It is the original fortress that was first constructed by William the Conqueror. Today the interior is set out as a museum and you can see many pieces of armour from the Middle Ages most notably that of Henry VIII. It also houses a chapel that was the chapel used by many of the Kings and Queens of England for prayer. It is also the last place that many of the Queens of England last saw prior to losing their heads…

Which brings me to the sordid history of the Tower. Over the centuries the Tower was most famously used as a prison and also as the last resting place for many poor souls. More than 1500 people are buried on the site of the Tower all of which were deemed ‘Traitors to the crown’ and had their heads removed from their bodies. The most famous prisoners to the tower are probably; Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Francis Drake and the two princes. The two princes is probably the most interesting story and was one I remember we learnt about in history in high school.

The two boys were the sons of Edward IV and were kept in the tower by probably Richard III who was their uncle. He wanted to be crowned king (not just regent) so kept the two boys in isolation. It is supposed that they were killed in the tower and their remains were sealed away in the White Tower. During construction works carried out by Charles II, two small skeletons were discovered in a trunk buried inside one of the walls of the castle. It was then supposed by the King that these were the remains of the two princes (who until then had disappeared) and their remains were removed and reburied in Westminster Abbey.

You can also see the place in which Henry VIIIs Queens all lost their heads. They were fortunate to lose their heads within the grounds of the castle and were not subject to the walk up to Tower hill (outside the grounds) where the regular traitors had their heads chopped off. One of the stories goes that one old lady (I can’t remember which one) who was tried and convicted of treason decided she didn’t want to lose her head so got up and ran away from the executioner. He then chased her over the Tower Hill and slowly hacked her to pieces!! Yuk… Apparently you wanted to lose your head in just one stroke, on another occasion someone had to have 8 hacks to get someone’s head off… Aaah!!!!

Of course, no day at the tower is complete without the obligatory walk pass of the Crown Jewels. The Jewels are housed in a vault deep within one of the castle’s buildings. You enter a travelator at one end and slowly make your way passed the coronation jewels. The jewels on display are the ones used during coronation so aren’t the ‘everyday’ jewels of the Queen and her family. I have to say that the two infamous diamonds the Star of Africa and the Koh-i-noor are really impressive.. the rest of it was probably as nice as many of the other jewels I’ve seen in my travels but didn’t knock my socks off! I guess that’s the blasé-ness coming through from someone who has clearly seen too many jewels during her travels… If these were the first jewels you had seen then you would be absolutely dumb struck but after seeing so many…………………….. All right I know I’m showing off now 

All in all I had an absolutely top day and highly recommend the Tower as one of the best day’s out you will have in your travels!