The Tower of London’s official name is Her
Majesty's Royal Palace & Fortress of the Tower of London. It is a listed
building and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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View of the southern riverside of The Thames, from beside
Tower Millennium Pier:
the round City Hall, the tall Shard.
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This must be the tallest street lamp in the UK…
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Picture of a ‘Beefeater’ in the window of the souvenir shop.
Vegetarians please abstain. |
The
Beefeaters
is the nickname for the Yeoman Warders (full name The Yeomen Warders of
Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the
Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary). They exist since
1485 and were originally here to look after the prisoners and guard the Crown
Jewels. They are now ceremonial guards and conduct guided tours, their status
is permanent and they live in The Tower. There are also British Army soldiers
of the Tower Guard, on duty at The Tower of London.
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The Ticket Office at The Tower of London.
The 2 skyscrapers are ‘The Cheesegrater’ and ‘The Gherkin.’
The building standing between the Ticket Office and ‘The
Gherkin’ with a nice eagle statue above a red globe is 15 Trinity Square, the former
headquarters of the General Steam Navigation Company Built in 1908 with top
storey added in 1931,
it is now the location of pub and restaurant.
The ornate rooftop on the right is 10 Trinity Square
(former PLA) – see further down.
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The Middle-Tower, the visitor’s entrance to The Tower
and The Shard across the river.
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We had a flight to catch that afternoon, so we had to
content ourselves with walking around outer walls. The first thing I took a
photo of, was this stone tower… This low round structure is inscribed
“Constructed AD 1868 London LHPC.” In fact it was built in the 1920s by the
London Hydraulic Power Company, to mark the spot of a previous 19th
c. structure which was the north entrance of a tunnel under The Thames! Originally,
in 1870, the tunnel called Tower Subway allowed passengers to be transported in a cable-hauled
carriage. After that venture went bankrupt, the passageway became a pedestrian
toll-tunnel, but in 1894 Tower Bridge opened and there was no charge to use it…
so the tunnel closed in 1898. LHPC became the owner and used it for hydraulic
power mains and water mains. It is still a short cut for water mains and
telecommunication cables.
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| The four turrets of The White Tower with their weather vanes topped with a golden crown. |
The oldest part and initially the sole part of The Tower
of London is the White Tower, the keep at the centre of the complex, built by
William The Conqueror in 1078 or so. It was used as a royal residence,
therefore a chapel was added. I believe it is still the current St John’s chapel
and a crypt, within it, was used as a treasury.
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The White Tower, clearly white… and towering; with London
Bridge up river
- from a 15th century manuscript.
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In the 13th century, Henry III had the keep
whitewashed, which became a tradition. Before that, I think the site was
known as The Great Tower.
In the 12th and 13th centuries,
other buildings had been added, as well as two rings of fortified walls and a
moat. By the reign of Edward I in the 13th century, The Tower’s
layout was not too different from the way it is now. There are presently 21 towers on the site.
Walking around The Tower of London from the western side:
< The Moat, Legge’s Mount (low tower furthest to the left), casemates
(fortified outer walls with openings for guns), behind is the Outer Ward which
is between the two walls of fortification, Devereux Tower (13th c.
repaired 18th c.) is on the left on the inner wall and named after its
famous prisoner Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex (executed under Elizabeth I’s
orders), Beauchamp Tower (13th c.) is the one with the flag on top
(Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned in this tower and carved her name in the wall,
her husband Guilford Dudley and his 4 brothers were all held here too.)
>
Mint Street is within The Tower ahead, between the two
lines of fortified walls. The stretch of battlement between Beauchamp Tower and
Bell Tower is known as Elizabeth’s Walk, since the future Queen Elizabeth I
used to walk here during her incarceration (see further down.)
Bell
Tower is the 12th century stone tower with the white wooden turret
perched on the parapet. The white structure shelters
the Curfew Bell (marked 1651) which used to inform prisoners given the liberty of The Tower
that it was time to return to their quarters - today it is sounded at 5:45 pm
each day, to warn visitors that the Tower is about to close. The Bell Tower has
been the lodgings of famous prisoners (see further down.) The barbican on the
right is Byward Tower.
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South-west corner of The Tower of London:
the bridge over the moat between Byward Tower and the 13th c. gatehouse called Middle Tower.
Across The Thames: the spherical City Hall and The Shard on the far right.
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For a long time, there was a Royal
Menagerie at the Tower (1210-1833).
Some animals were gifts from other European rulers and included a bear,
an elephant and leopards. The animals were moved to Regent’s Park in the 19th
c. (now called London Zoo) and the Lion Tower, a barbican used as the keeper’s
residence, was later demolished. 
Today, the emplacement features some animals sculptures, made by Kendra Haste in galvanised wire, 3 lions - I think there is a polar bear too somewhere else at The Tower; in total, Haste had made a dozen animals for exhibition at The Tower in 2011, some have since been relocated. Haste is a sculptress from London.
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Nice full-size siege engine in the moat: this replica of
a medieval stone-thrower is called a Perrier.
The Bell Tower, the entrance via Byward Tower, part of
the Middle Tower on the right of pic.
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^ The Middle Tower (built in the 13th c. altered
in the 18th c. and refaced in Portland stone).
It used to have two portcullises. It is now used as residence for
a Yeoman Warders.
With a stone-carved coat of arms of Great Britain as used
between 1714 and 1801 under kings George I, George II and George III, before
the Act of Union.
< Now, walking along The Thames: view of the stone bridge
between the Middle Tower and Byward Tower. The bridge used to feature a wooden
drawbridge in its centre.
>
The Byward Tower was built in the 13th c. It featured
two portcullises and arrow loops. The name may mean that it was “by the warders”
i.e. beside the Warder’s Hall. The shape of the towers are original, but the
structure was increased in height several times, including in the 18th
or 19th century. It contains a 14th c. wall painting,
partly ruined by the addition of a fireplace in the middle of it, but
considered so special that it is not accessible by the general public.
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The Moat and the back of the Middle Tower.
3 skyscrapers from The City of London can be glimpsed: ‘The
Walkie-Talkie’ ‘The Cheesegrater’ ‘The Gherkin’
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Behind the low outer wall is Water Lane and, attached to
the inner wall is Queen’s House, a half-timbered Tudor structure of 1540,
facing the other way, maybe named after Anne Boleyn – who ironically stayed
here before becoming queen and then again before her execution. Guy Fawkes is
said to have confessed to The Gunpowder Plot here in 1608.
Below the tree: St Thomas’s Tower and behind that are (round)
Wakefield Tower and (square) Bloody Tower.
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| Part of Queen’s House can be glimpsed here (pointed roof with decorative strip under the eaves , dormer window and red-brick chimneys). |
^ The
building near the path is St Thomas’s Tower, built in the 13th c. to
provide extra royal accommodation, with a water-gate entrance designed to allow
King Edward I to enter The Tower by boat. The nickname Traitors' Gate came from
the large number of prisoners brought to The Tower by that same route, passing
under London Bridge where the heads of traitors were displayed on pikes.
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| Traitors' Gate at St Thomas's Tower. |
Other famous prisoners at The Tower:
Richard II was imprisoned at The Tower and later
abdicated, here, in 1399, no doubt under duress.
Famously, in the 15th century, the young sons of Edward
IV, disappeared here, after being held by their uncle the Duke of Gloucester –
who conveniently became the next king, Richard III. What became of “The Princes
in the Tower”? In 1674, the bones belonging to two children were discovered
after a staircase was demolished.
The use of The Tower as a prison became at its highest in
the 16th and 17th centuries.
In 1534, Sir Thomas More was imprisoned in the Bell Tower
for refusing to swear allegiance to King Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the
Church in England. He was later beheaded on nearby Tower Hill (see further
down) – his head was displayed on a pike on London Bridge (see post
http://gherkinscall.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/london-bridge-shard.html)
and the rest of his body was interred inside The Tower, in the
Chapel Royal
of St Peter ad Vincula (St Peter in Chains, rebuilt in 1520), in the
north-west corner of the Inner Ward.
Other “remarkable persons” buried in this chapel: Anne
Boleyn and her brother George, Thomas Cromwell, Catherine Howard, John Dudley, Lady Jane Grey and her husband
Guilford Dudley – all below a green and red marble memorial pavement, featuring
their coats of arms, commissioned by Queen Victoria.
In 1554, Princess Elizabeth (future Queen
Elizabeth I) was accused of supporting the Wyatt Rebellion and plotting to overthrow her queen and Catholic sister
Mary I. Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Bell Tower, she entered via Traitors
Gate, beneath St Thomas’s Tower. Of course, she went on to reign for over 44
years. A few months after her death, Sir Walter Raleigh, accused of
plotting against the new king James I, was
taken prisoner at The Tower, where he lived for 13 years, in a cell in Bloody
Tower, before being pardoned.
Bloody Tower is hidden here behind St Thomas’s Tower.
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| Birds’
eye view from St Thomas’s Tower... |
In 17th and 18th centuries, the White Tower’s facing was
replaced with Portland stone, an idea of architect Inigo Jones and most of its
windows were enlarged.
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“Castrum Royale Londinense vulgo the Tower” (“Royal Castle London commonly named The Tower”)
- etching on paper by Wenceslaus Hollar c. 1647.
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The round tower behind St Thomas’s Tower is Wakefield
Tower.
The White Tower, original Norman keep, on the right.
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Here, behind a double-line of
fortified wall is the Innermost Ward,
with the site of a part of the ancient Roman City Wall (see further down.)
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Henry III’s Watergate, today’s visitors’ exit.
‘The
Walkie-Talkie’ playing hide-and-seek at The Tower of London.
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Far left: Wakefield Tower. The wider round tower near the
tree is Lanthorn Tower.
On right: Cradle Tower (14th c.)
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Very pleasant paved Tower Wharf at the foot of Tower
Bridge. Parts of the south side of The Tower of London fitting in the frame: St
Thomas’s Tower - Henry III’s Watergate – Lanthorn Tower - Cradle Tower.
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Cradle Tower and the East Drawbridge entrance.
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> South-east corner of The Tower of London: the two towers
are Well Tower and Develin Tower (at the corner). The 2 mortars are from the Royal Armouries: (on left) iron
13-inch Mortar and Bed, mid-18th century, Spanish or French, for use
at sea or as coastal defence,
(on right) iron 18-inch Mortar, dated 1684,
Italian or English-made. from Corfu.
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Cannons outside The Tower of London. Not yet mentioned:
Salt Tower (round tower on right).
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To continue our walk around The Tower of London, we had
to walk under the northern end of Tower Bridge and go up a very busy road. The
cannons from the Royal Armouries: (on right) iron 12 pounder gun, 1800,
British, formely used as a bollard on Tower Hill.
[Post with our photos of Tower Bridge under construction]
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Parts of the south and east sides of the Tower of London
as seen from the approach to Tower Bridge.
Some of the skyscrapers from The
City of London financial district: ‘The Cheesegrater’ ‘The Gherkin’ ‘The Heron
Tower’.
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The Shard and Develin Tower at the south-east corner of
The Tower of London.
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Tower Bridge in the distance and The Tower of London on
the right:
the moat, the outer wall and Develin Tower (low at the far corner),
Salt Tower (on the right) which is part of the inner wall.
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The Salt Tower built in the 13th c. and
restored in the 19th c. The ground floor was used for storage and there
were dungeons in the basement. Prisoners in the Salt Tower left several
graffiti, such as an astronomical clock carved by a man accused of sorcery, and
Christogram made by Jesuits.
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Left of the pic: the Salt Tower, the dark brown roof with
the dormer windows is the workshop (with a café, I think), to the right on that
is Broad Arrow Tower (with a gherkin poking out of it!), further right is
Constable Tower.
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Along the pavement; detail of the parapet matching the
colours of Tower Bridge.
On the inner wall of The Tower of London: the workshop
(below The Shard), Broad Arrow Tower to its right, the building showing below
the turrets of the White Tower must be the former hospital block.
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North-east corner: the square turret is part of
the Waterloo Block where the Crown Jewels are kept (see further down), the dark
brown tower is Martin Tower on the corner of the inner wall.
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Former hospital block (brown roof on the left), Constable
Tower (on the inner wall), (behind it) the headquarters of the Royal Regiment
of Fusiliers which houses The Fusilier Museum, the weather vanes of the White
Tower (one turret replaced by a shard of glass…)
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| At the north-east corner of The Tower of London:
Tower Bridge, the moat, the whole east-side of the outer wall of The Tower of
London from Develin Tower to Brass Mount (rounded corner). |
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The low round tower at the north-east corner is called
Brass Mount, the brown tower behind it on the inner wall is Martin Tower. ‘The
Walkie-Talkie’ behind Trinity Square. The gap in the wall of the moat revealing
the ruins of an old gatehouse (see further down).
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The trees outside the moat, are Trinity Square Gardens, on the site known as Tower Hill. The Tower of London is in the district
called
Tower Hamlets, and Tower Hill separates Tower Hamlets from the district of The City of
London.
Tower Hill is where executions would take place
and where the infamous scaffold used to be
set up. More than a hundred people were put to death here, over a 400-year
period (including Sir Thomas More whose name is on a plaque there), whereas
only 7 people were executed within the walls of The Tower of London itself –
until the two world wars, when 12 men accused of being spies, were executed at The Tower.
The white temple-like
building with columns and a statue is a listed building built in 1922. Its
address is 10 Trinity Square. Former headquarters of the Port of London
Authority. Badly damaged during WWII. Recently, redeveloped as the Four Seasons
Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square. It has featured in the 2012 James Bond film
“Skyfall.”
At Tower Hill is also the Tower
Hill Memorial, commemorating the merchant navy and fishing fleet members who
died at sea during both world wars and have no grave (12,000 names from WWI and
at least 24,000 names from WWII.)
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| A 1561 woodcut, before there was any spell-checkers. |
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| The crenellated shadow of Develin Tower. |
Amongst the very rare prisoners executed on Tower Green,
within the inner wall of The Tower: Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Robert
Devereux Earl of Essex.
The Tower of London was damaged during WWII.
Its last prisoner was Rudolph Hess, held here in 1941.
At the north side of The Tower of London, the outer wall
is not a straight line.
From here we can see 3 rounded towers with crenellation on
the inner wall: (from left to right) Martin Tower – Brick Tower – Bowyer Tower. The taller tower behind is part of the Waterloo Block on
the Inner Ward (see Crown Jewels). The green church spire is All Hallows-By-The-Tower, the
oldest church in The City of London, on a site founded 300 years before The
Tower of London, in AD 675. The church survived the Great Fire of 1666 but was
badly damaged during The Blitz of WWII.
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The north side of The Tower of London. On the Inner Ward,
the Waterloo Block (square windows) home of the Crown Jewels. The round towers,
on the inner wall, are Bowyer Tower (centre), Flint Tower and Devereux Tower
(with The Shard marking the approximate site of the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad
Vincula.) The low tower at the corner of the outer wall is Legge’s Mount –
which made our tour complete!
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The Tower has also been the
home of the Royal Mint (the coin making institution) from 13th to
the 19th century and of the Crown Jewels, the sovereign’s
coronation regalia – still today, the largest set of regalia in the world, with
141 objects, including the largest clear-cut diamond in the world. The oldest
item remaining today is a 12th century anointing spoon with 4 pearls,
that and 3 ceremonial swords is all that survived the 17th c.
English Civil War and the melting of the Crown Jewels under Oliver Cromwell’s
orders.
Since the 14th c,
it had become traditional on Coronation Day, for the procession to take place from
The Tower to Westminster Abbey, but it stopped after Charles II was deposed and
the Monarchy suspended from 1649 to 1660. Probably because there were no more
Crown Jewels here…
Today, the Crown Jewels are
on display in Jewel House in The Waterloo Block, formally a barracks within The
Tower of London. It is not the same as the original 13th c. Jewel
House which was near Wardrobe Tower and demolished in the 17th c,
when Martin Tower became the place where the public was first allowed to view
the Crown Jewels - this, until the 19th century. After that, they moved to a
new building, then to Wakefield Tower until 1967, then to the Waterloo
Block/Barracks, partly in an underground vault. The interest grew from 1,500
visitors a day after WWII, to 15,000 a day in the 1980s. In 1994, a better
displaying of the regalia was opened on the ground floor of Waterloo Block, a
new Jewel House, all refurbished in 2012.
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| ‘The Walkie-Talkie’ and 10 Trinity Square. |
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Street lamp keeping fit…
The shield and motto of The City
of London (“Domine Dirige Nos” / “Lord, guide us”),
although I think we were
just outside the district limits.
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This seems to be Tower Hill Postern Gate, the remains of
a medieval gatehouse built into the side of the Tower’s moat. Historians
believe it was built on the site of a much older Roman gate. Around here are
the largest sections remaining of the old Roman London Wall, built around
Londinium, the Roman settlement founded in AD 43. The wall dates from AD 200
approximately and it roughly followed the perimeter of what is now The City of
London district. I read that the wall survived for 1,600 years.
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Last look at The Tower of London (north side), before
going down the Tower Hill underground station.
The Waterloo Block showing in
all its length, between the White Tower and the outer wall.
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