Tower of London, London > Reviews > History of England at the bloodiest

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Advantages:	just go and see it by yourself
Disadvantages:	expensive

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

If there is something that you shouldn’t miss in London is a visit to the London Tower. Jewels, arms, bloody tales, ghosts and treachery, who needs need any more?

It is England live history. It has been fortress, palace, prison, and even in our days it is not only a tourist place but is still in use and inhabited.

The visit takes hours and it closes about 5 so go as early as possible (don’t forget the queues). Entry is quite expensive (about £12 my last time). Groups pay a bit less so I suggest taking a look to the groups entrance and joining someone, who may be searching for you to make the minimum. I have done it already: with an American family, French students, some funny Australians… And this queue is faster.

You get a small map with your ticket and, after you go across the bridge and get in, you may go to the information office for free brochures. Of course, there are also books, audio guided visits and so on if you want to pay. And in each tower or main place you will find new leaflets with detailed explanations.

You can join the Yeoman (or Beefeaters) in their guided (and free) tours. They wear the traditional uniforms and will explain all the “secrets” as you move around the towers. The meeting point is marked with a big panel with the timetables (every ½ hour and last for about 60 minutes) near the entrance. They are very funny and there is a couple of place you cannot get into without them.

If you prefer to go on your own, you may start walking on and around the walls. It is called London Tower but in reality it is a walled fortress made of 16 towers and surrounded by water (now dried, where the ravens are buried).

Be careful with them! : They got bad temper. But it is said that they day they would leave, the Tower will disappear. So they are cared after and have its wings trimmed they cannot fly far-off (beaks are not touched and kept sharp)

o The White Tower is the center of everything. It is the oldest and the most impressive of all buildings. Norman, made by William the Conqueror, the exterior was modified by Christopher Wren (anywhere in London you cannot find his touch?) Inside, you can still find the Norman chapel, a treasure of more than 900 years, the oldest church in England: St John’s Chapel. The Tower is also occupied by the Royal Armouries, a great collection, with an especial section on torture instruments.

o The Bloody Tower. Probably one of the better known because of the prisoners kept and tortured here, like the called princes of the tower, nephews of who was to become king Richard III (once the kids were dispatched).
There is a small cell , designed in a way that the prisoner can only stand (without sitting or lie down …) On the other hand; it is possible to visit other cells with rooms for family and servants.

o Opposite the last tower, we find Traitor’s Gate, the former entrance to the Tower for the prisoners coming from the river. You feel you go back on time and see it.

o Beauchamp Tower was also “visited” by famous prisoners and we may see the inscriptions they left on the walls before they died. It is not the only tower that it has its own ghosts.

o Well in atmosphere, it is time to go to see the “chopping” block. Though several principal prisoners were decapitated here (St Tomas Moro or two of Henry VIII’s wives) , public executions took place usually outside the Tower, without a big ceremonial but with plenty of spectators.

o I left till the end Jewel Tower, where we can find the Crown Jewels. Security measures are extraordinary as well as the thickness of the armoured doors. Queen Victoria’s crown (adapted by Elisabeth II on her coronation), late Queen mother’s one…the most famous diamonds and brilliants in the whole world, all together!
There is an interesting exhibition in one of the adjacent towers, telling the stories of these jewels and the way each Queen or King chose on his/her coronation one of the former crowns and transformed it a pleasure (budget permitting!) snatching rocks from others and buying new ones.

Yet so many things to say… The whole enclosure is a continuous up and down, spiral staircases, dark and wet basements, greats views form the top and a living history that you can feel and dream of. To be explored with time on your hands, an experience that I can truly recommend for everyone.