Tower of London – Dark History Etched in Stone

I can never walk past the Tower of London without wincing at all the horror that took place behind its walls. People didn’t just get their heads lopped off, which must be something less than cheerful. They were thoroughly tortured in ways that would make you swoon reading about them. So while the Beefeaters, all former NCOs in the armed forces, look cheerful and benevolent and tell a good story, never forget that this place witnessed some of the most horrific events in English history. A story that was far from being bloodless.

The Tower of London was home to every monarch, from William the Conqueror, the Norman who took over the country in 1066 by hitting Harold on his horse at Hastings with a fistful of arrers in the eye, as a popular poem would have done the last century. it – to Henry VIII in the 16th century, who started the tradition of getting involved with other women that is still shown by certain sections of the royal family to this day.

The Tower has also been the site of the Royal Mint, has housed public records, the Royal Menagerie and the Royal observatory. It is arguably the most famous and best preserved historic building in the world.

William the Conqueror began work on it three months after his arrival in 1066 and the Great Tower, later to become the White Tower when Henry III had the pale stone that had been imported from Caen whitewashed, was built so that the Anglo-Saxon people knew. there was a new sheriff in town.

Initially it was earth and wood: stone walls from the ancient Roman city of Londinium Augusta still stood and helped form a foundation.

In fact, John Stow in his epic ‘A Survey of London’, first published in 1598, refers to this although he says that there is no documentary evidence to support the theory.

But at least one could say that it is very likely that some kind of fort has existed there since Roman times and that at least some of the stones in the wall date from that time.

Added to this was The Great Tower, now The White Tower and this is where the king moved as a full time resident. The castle was always being expanded and modified. It is a happy thought that if urbanism had existed today, the Tower of London would not exist. There would be a mound of earth and some old stone walls. Today you can see the White Tower, which was basically finished in 1097 and has a collection of armor and weapons on display.

Then there’s the Bloody Tower where Richard III is supposed to have drowned the young Prince Edward V and his younger brother in 1483 so he could claim the throne.

This is a blatant piece of propaganda that was written by William Shakespeare to curry favor with the monarchy. Richard III probably didn’t grow princes and he certainly didn’t have a hunchback. For an alternate version, read ‘The Daughter of Time’ by Josephine Tey. Note that it’s also probably wrong, but since no one knows the truth, it’s at least an acceptable theory.

Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned here from 1603 to 1616, during which time he wrote ‘The History of the World’. He was more under house arrest than incarcerated. He had two servants and his wife and his two children sometimes came to stay with him.

He was released to lead an expedition to find the fictional El Dorado. He didn’t find it so when he returned he was executed as encouragement for other explorers.

The moat became an open sewer until the Duke of Wellington, always a man of direct action, had it emptied.

The famous ravens do not haunt the tower of their own volition. They have clipped wings. This is not conducive to a friendly disposition and they have been known to make quite terrifying attacks on visitors. Personally, I think it’s dead souls lurking in the castle, but I’m a Celt and always superstitious.

One of the great attractions of the Tower is the Crown Jewels that are in the Duke of Wellington’s Barracks. Among them is The Royal Scepter, which contains the largest cut diamond in the world.

The Imperial State Crown, made in 1838 for the coronation of Queen Victoria and containing 3,000 precious stones, including the second largest cut diamond in the world. And the Kohinoor diamond that is set in the crown made for the coronation of George VI’s queen, Elizabeth (the current Queen Mother) in 1937.

The people of India, from whom it was looted, would like to see it returned to them. They are next in line for the Greeks waiting for the Elgin Marbles.

Stealing the Crown Jewels would be a breeze, although they would be very difficult to fence. In 1671, Colonel Thomas Blood managed to get the jewels to the dock before being arrested. He was punished with a royal pension, which suggests that the idea was Charles II, who at the time was running a little short of preparations.

The few executions carried out in the Tower were on Tower Green. They have marked the place where the block is supposed to have been with a bronze tablet. Unlike his normal public executions, which were the equivalent of the Cup final, watching an execution in the Tower was for the more privileged.

So only the main (pardon the pun) evildoers were shortened dramatically in the Tower. The remainder was held on Tower Hill, outside the Tower so that the thousands of spectators could get a better view.

One of the latest additions to the Tower is the History Gallery, which opened in 1978 for the Tower’s 900th anniversary. It’s exciting yet chilling. The Tower is an evil place.

They have the Ceremony of the Keys, which has been held at 10 o’clock every night for over 700 years, although there seems to have been a night in the Blitz of WWII when the service was discontinued.

It is a most impressive ceremony if you can arrange to see it. This is not easy, but it is worth the effort.