Am I Supposed to Call it the Loo?: London, Part II: The Tower of London

We could see the imposing Tower of London from the London Wall, but we had to pass through a walking tunnel in order to get to it. After entering, Kaylyn and I went first to the White Tower, which is pretty centrally located within the Tower of London.

The entrance to the tunnel

A depiction of Anne Boleyn in the tunnel leading to the Tower of London

The Tower of London

Traitors' Gate is the place where many prisoners accused of treason are though to have entered the Tower of London. Ironically enough, the timber framing above the arch was built in 1532 in preparation for Anne Boleyn's coronation procession. She processed from the Tower to her coronation in 1533, and less than three years later she returned to the Tower as a prisoner.

Kaylyn in front of the White Tower


Me in front of the White Tower

King Edward IV's two sons, aged 9 and 12, were declared illegitimate and imprisoned in the Tower of London by their uncle, who would later be crowned Richard III. The two boys disappeared in 1483 and were never seen alive again. In 1674, the skeletons of two young boys, believed to be the ill-fated princes, were discovered under these stairs.

This suit of armor belonging to King Henry VIII is housed in the White Tower.

A suit of armor belonging to King Henry VIII and his horse

Even children had armor! This suit belonged to Prince Henry, son of James I.

I didn't know they had indoor toilets! This Norman toilet is officially called a "garderobe."

I got really excited when I saw this giant book! This 914-page ledger details the items in the Armouries and Spanish Weapon House in the Tower of London between June 21, 1675 and September 2, 1679.

This three-barreled gun was made for King Henry VIII, but it was damaged in the Grand Storehouse fire of 1841.

This brigandine, a form of body armor, was originally covered with cloth of gold and possibly belonged to King Henry VIII.

Swords belonging to the Kings of England

This piece of Italian armor once belonged with an open-faced helmet. I thought it was funny that this face defense actually had a mustache!

I didn't realize that prisoners were held in the Tower of London after medieval times, but German spy Josef Jakobs was held in the Tower in 1941. This picture shows the parachute that was used as evidence against him and the chair in which he was sitting when he was executed in the Tower's small rifle range. Jakobs was the Tower's final state prisoner, and he was the last person to be executed there.

One night when Brittany, Katie, Kaylyn, and I went out in Manchester, some of our new friends explained to me that British coins form a shield if you put them all together! This picture shows the shield with the five pence in the center, the fifty pence underneath it, the ten pence on the top left, the two pence on the top right, the one pence on the bottom left, and the twenty pence on the bottom right.

After the White Tower we went to see the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos of the Crown Jewels, but I don't think photos would have done them justice anyway. When you first walk in, there is a room displaying different facts about the Crown Jewels. To get into the room with the Jewels, Kaylyn and I had to walk through a hallway and a set of doors. As we passed the threshold, Kaylyn elbowed me and pointed to the propped-open doors leading to the room containing the Jewels. They were at least a half-foot thick and made of solid metal. It looked like something out of a movie!

The Crown Jewels are lined up in glass cases in the center of the room. On either side of the cases are moving sidewalks (like the flat escalators in airports) that take spectators down the entire row of crowns, rings, and coronation orbs and sceptres. The Crown Jewels are absolutely breathtaking. No amount of pictures can prepare you for that number of extravagantly large gemstones. After passing the crowns, rings, orbs, and sceptres, Kaylyn and I saw the gold baptismal font and gold dishes and cutlery. Among the items used in royal banquets is a brilliantly ornate punch bowl that is one meter wide!

Kaylyn walking in to see the Crown Jewels


My first thought was that this was a wax figure. It wasn't. No matter how cold or rainy, the Crown Jewels must be guarded!

After Kaylyn and I had gone down the moving sidewalks two times each, we visited the Bloody Tower where Sir Walter Ralegh was imprisoned. After the Bloody Tower came, in my opinion, the most important part of our trip to the Tower of London--Tower Green, where Anne Boleyn was beheaded.

The memorial commemorating those who were executed in the Tower of London is composed of a glass pillow resting on a disk of polished glass bearing the names of those executed and a disk of granite bearing a remembrance poem.

"Close to this site were executed: William, Lord Hastings 1483 . Queen Anne Boleyn 1536 . Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury 1541 . Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford 1542 . Queen Katherine Howard 1542 . Lady Jane Grey 1554 . Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex 1601 . Farquhar Shaw 1743 . Samuel Macpherson 1743 . Malcolm Macpherson 1743 ."

Three Queens of England (Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Jane Grey) and two Catholic Saints (St. Thomas More and St. John Fischer) are buried in the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula inside the walls of the Tower of London.

Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula

While admiring the memorial to those executed, Kaylyn and I noticed the changing of the guard posted outside of the building housing the Crown Jewels.

The guards then marched away, presumably to relieve the next guard of his post.

After the guards had marched past us, Kaylyn and I walked over to Beauchamp Tower. Prisoners kept in Beauchamp Tower include Robert Dudley, childhood sweetheart of Elizabeth I, and the family of Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey. Beauchamp Tower is covered in prisoners' graffiti. The graffiti includes the name "IANE." It is believed that this was carved, possibly by Lord Guildford Dudley or his family, in support of Lady Jane Grey.

In the 16th century, the Tower of London's guards became known as Yeoman Warders. The top floor of Beauchamp Tower is still home to a Yeoman Warder!

"IANE" is carved into the walls of Beauchamp Tower more than once.

Intricate graffiti carved into the walls of Beachamp Tower

More of Beauchamp Tower's graffiti

Our last stop in the Tower of London was the building containing the torture devices.

The Rack

The Scavenger's Daughter was the opposite of the Rack, compressing prisoners as opposed to stretching them.

Manacles were used to hang prisoners by their wrists.

From the Tower of London, Tower Bridge is easily visible. Kaylyn and I headed out of the Tower of London and rushed over to Tower Bridge to try to make the last tour of the night.