The Tower of London is one of London’s most famous and recognizable landmarks, but it’s also an enigma: it’s played so many different roles over its nearly thousand-year existence.
First built by William the Conqueror as one of dozens of castles intended to consolidate his power over his new realm, it’s been added to, subtracted from, repurposed, rebuilt over the years before reaching its ultimate role: London’s most popular and likely most famous tourist attraction.
Animal sculptures remind that a Royal Menagerie of sometimes hundreds of animals were housed at the Tower from the 13th to 19th centuries
Over the years since, it’s been used as a royal residence, military fortress, armory, and more; it’s played host to the Royal Mint, the Crown Jewels, a zoo, records offices and a host of other functions.
The Crown Jewels, lots and lots of them, are a big attraction. This is my only photo before being warned that photos are not allowed!
But its most enduring reputation, as a place of execution and imprisonment, turns out to be largely false. Prisoners were sometimes held there, as in other castles, but there were no actual prison cells or the like until 1687.
Super-ornate Flemish cannon from 1607 brought to the Tower by the Duke of Wellington, and some more practical weapons of Wellington’s own time.
More surprising, despite what we all learned from movies and legend, only seven executions took place in the Tower before the 20th century. Eleven spies were shot in the Tower during World War I, and another during World War II, the last execution ever in the Tower.
Of course, if you visit the Tower and take the free walk-through tour with one of the Yeoman Warders, the famed Beefeaters, you’ll get a full helping of the executions, with emphasis on the botched ones. Barely mentioned is that except for a few high-profile cases, nearby Tower Hill was the site.
Nonetheless, the tour is the way to go: not only full helpings of semi-history but also a full repertoire of jokes, did-you-knows and gentle mockery. The warders will also point out that they are not hired guides; they are all retired British military veterans.
Along with the Beefeaters, the Tower’s ravens have a long history; legend says that if they leave, England will fall.
To give their formal title, they are “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.” The corps was created in 1485 by Henry VII, the first Tudor king.
Because the Tower kept evolving over so many years, there’s a mix of architectural styles, and the arrangement of buildings around the three ‘wards’ or open spaces can be a bit confusing.
The Yeomen are not the only uniformed forces at the Tower; the Tower Guard, dressed similarly to those at Buckingham Palace, man the guard posts at the Jewel House and the Queen’s House. Every two hours the guard is changed, with full ceremony. I was amused to see the relieved guards marching down the steps as visitors marched up.
The White Tower, the first part of the complex, was built at the edge of the Thames, and was accessible to boats. As the marshland along the river was drained to give more space to expand the Tower, two water-gates were built. One has become known as the Traitor’s Gate, because prisoners were often brought through it. These days it’s only for show because of 19th-century projects that changed the depth of the river.
The moat, once nearly 30 feet deep, has also fallen out of use. In the 1840s, the Duke of Wellington, who was in charge of the Tower, had it drained and partly filled because it had become a fetid source of disease, including cholera. When I visited last spring, it was being landscaped for a flower show to accompany the Queen’s Jubilee.
Tower Bridge, often mistaken for an ancient crossing, was built in the 1890s; the design was chosen to complement rather than clash with the Tower; it’s become almost as well-known a London symbol itself.
Some of the oldest bits of the Tower site
