I couldn't remember much of the Tower of London from my trip in 1995, besides the Traitor's gate, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.
The first thing was the complete contrast between the 'new modern London' with its glass buildings and the ancient castle:
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| Tower of London |
The Tower of London was built in 1078, used as a prison in 1100 until 1952. It has also served as a royal residence and the royal mint.
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| The entrance - The Middle Tower and the Byward Tower (behind) |
First we passed through the Middle Tower, which was the original entrance after passing the first moat and drawbridge. There was then a secondary drawbridge and moat leading to the Byward tower which held arrow slots and later gun ports.
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| Byward Tower |
Passing through the Byward Tower we walked under two portcullis gates and murder slots. This led us to Water Lane, which was reclaimed by Edward I in 1275 by building wooden piles to push the River Thames back.
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| Water Lane |
To our left was Mint Street, where the royal mint was held until 1810.
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| Mint Street |
Our first stop was the former royal mint down mint street.
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| Julian considering stealing the boxes of 'coins' from the mint |
In 1279 the King (Edward I) realised that there were problems with his currency - it was being destroyed by people clipping the edges of coins to melt down and sell. In order to try to save the value of the currency he moved the mint inside the Tower of London and remade the currency with additional protections like ridges on the edge of the coins.
Next stop after the mint was the Medieval Palace. This was where Henry III (1216-72) and his son Edward I (1272-1307) visited for pleasure.
First was St Thomas' Tower, and the remains of an old medieval fireplace:
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| Fireplace in Thomas' Tower |
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| Edward I bedchamber recreation |
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| Edward I's oratory - little chapel over the water |
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| Stained Glass in Medieval Palace |
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| By tradition Henry VI died here Day 21st 1471 |
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| View of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London |
In the centre of the Tower was the White Tower, the original part of the Tower. We didn't have enough time to go in it, but we got some great shots from outside:
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| The White Tower |
The Tower of London mythology holds that when the ravens leave the Tower of London the tower will fall. In typical English caution, they have now caged a few of the ravens and only let one out at a time. There are still wild ravens but this ensure the tower is safe..
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| Raven cages |
While we were walking along the walls between the towers we suddenly heard a shout and drums and a man walked out to the centre of the yard calling that the Tower was safe and would never fall:
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| The Tower is secure! |
Then suddenly someone to our right shouted out and waved a sword, "The tower will fall!"
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| The tower will fall! |
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| Really, I mean it! |
One of the towers housed details of the only time the tower was breached. In a very British manner, the peasants revolted and insulted the nobles. "Your mother was a hampster and your father smells of Elderberries!"
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| Oh my, the insults! |
Ok to be fair, the peasants then dragged the archbishop outside and killed him, but it was the insults that really stung.
I also got roped into trying a guard hat - it was chained down to the desk and the chain wasn't made for people of my height so I had to hunch a bit. Sadly, this picture ended up on Facebook before I could delete it...
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| I feel like Sergeant Colon from Guards! Guards! |
Our next stop was the Crown Jewels, however photos were not allowed in those areas.
Once we passed the Crown Jewels we walked around the courtyard and past some amazing cannons:
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| Cannon |
Our last stop was Traitor's Gate:
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| Traitor's Gate |
Once we finished up at the Tower we headed to the Borough's Market for lunch
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