One of the main attractions I wanted to see when in London was The Tower of London. Having already seen the poppy installation and walked all around the grounds, I knew that it was busy and that I should get to the site early. I bought my ticket online hoping to avoid ticket puchasing line ups. This turned out to be the only line that I avoided all day.
I did not realize that it was half term when I booked my week in London. But it seems that everyone who visited London this week was at The Tower of London. So, although I had smartly prepurchased my tickets, I then had to line up in the ticket holders line, which was long. The major bonus of the day was that it was 20 degrees, sunny, cloudless, and overall just beautiful.
The Tower opened at 10 am and I wanted to participate in a guided tour. I think that I was finally on the grounds and ready for the 11 am tour. Our guide was a Beefeater, or a Yoemen Warder. The guard actually live on the grounds of the Tower, with their families. They must have served in the forces for 20 plus years, have a clear record of service, and no criminal record. Bob was an excellent tour guide who mixed humour and intrigue into his tour.
Bob explained about the history of The Tower. It had once been a mint, was and still is considered a palace, a jail, and obviously a holding place for those who were to be executed. As most people were rather interested in hearing about the gory history, Bob spent some time explaining how a person would be executed. The vast majority of the executions did not occur inside the walls of The Tower, rather, when the time came, the large tower bell rang, the condemned was marched from The Tower, up the hill, to a scaffold that was built for their hanging. Some people were hanged until dead. Other, mainly those convicted of treason, were hanged, brought down, stretched on the rack, drawn, and quartered. Their heads would have rested on a spike outside of The Tower and the parts of their bodies would journey throughout the country, on display, to act as a deterent to all citizens.
After that lovely chat, we were led to the centre of the grounds. We were taked to the place of The Tower were executions took place inside the wall. Here, only 6 executions took place. They were all people who were considered friends of royalty (so two of Henry VIII's wives). Down from this place of execution is the Tudor style home that was built for Ann Boleyn as a gift from Henry VIII at their wedding. Unfortunately, Ann was beheaded prior to seeing this home completed.
We were led to the inside of The Tower Chapel. This chapel is still a place for prayer. Burried under the ground were many of the people who had died within The Tower, including Ann Boleyn and her sister.
At the end of the tour, Bob recommended that we line up for The Crown Jewels. He noted that the day before, the line ups were taking up to two hours and speculated that it may only be a half an hour line up presently. He was off by about 30 minutes. I took his advice and lined up. This line up took about an hour. The Crown Jewels are housed in a building inside a walk in safe. The rooms that they are located in are within a built in safe. I walked through the steel safe doors that were at least two feet thick. The attraction within were jewels that have been used by different monarchs over the centuries. Also included are those items that may have been used for such things as coronation feasts, such as massive gold punch bowls, goblets, and the like. This area of The Tower was mildly interesting to me.
After this line up, I joined a few other line ups to see other parts of The Tower. Firstly, was the line up to get up onto the wall, then the line up to get into The Torture Room, then the line up for The White Tower.
The walk on the wall was short. Part of the walk included walking through the king's chamber. The Torture Room was a very small tower that showcased different types of torture, for instance, the manacles (like handcuffs that a person would be hung from), the rack (previously described), the scavanger's daughter (the opposite of the rack where a person would be folded in three and compressed). Finally, the White Tower, which housed the most artifacts and I found to be the most interesting, is where all of the armoury is held. Espcially interesting was Henry VIII's early versus later in life suits of armour. Also, interesting was the wooden models of horses that had been used in order to model and create armour for horses.
Of course, The Tower is well known for the ravens. And there were ravens a plenty. Up close, they are quite large. Apparently, their wings are clipped in order to keep them at The Tower.
I think that a well spent time at The Tower of London can be completed in about two hours. I visited from 10 until 5. It was an exhausting day. On my way out, I was able to watch a Yoeman Warder and a horn players gather among the poppies. Each night as the sun sets, a number of names of war dead are read out and remembered. The Last Post is played. It was unbelievable to see how many people came out to witness this event and to pay their respect. We will remember
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