Since my hotel was next to the Thames, it was a short walk along the river to Westminster Pier. I set out right after breakfast and was surprised to see several police officers in front of my hotel and all along the way to the pier. They smiled at me, so I wasn’t too concerned. I didn’t seem to concern them either. Maybe there was someone famous or royal in the area. From what I learned later, it might have been different if I had headed towards Whitehall instead of staying along the Embankment.
At Westminster Pier, I bought a round-trip boat trip ticket to the Tower of London along with the admission ticket to the Tower. It was a savings to get the package. Also, I wouldn’t have to stand in line to buy a ticket once I got to the Tower. I just needed to exchange the voucher I was given, which was a much shorter line.
Along the way, I took a few photos – especially of the places I couldn’t take photos of the previous year due to the heavy rain when I was on the river. The Globe Theatre was one of them. This time I sat on the open upper deck of the boat where I could see both sides of the river quite well.
There were really large crowds at the Tower when I arrived, including all of us that had been on the super crowded boat. I guess I picked the same day to go to the Tower as everybody else in London. This was my first time back to the Tower since 2003 – fourteen years.
The White Tower was built in 1078 and the general layout of the entire complex has been in existence since the 13th century, renovated during the reign of Henry III (the same guy who rebuilt so much of Westminster Abbey). In the years that I have visited the Tower, there have been different towers open and different exhibits and changes in location of some of the items they keep there. I was given a map to the Tower complex along with my ticket and noticed that there were several more changes from when I was last there.
To enter the Tower, it was necessary to open my nylon bag in which I carried my camera, map and other items for inspection by one of the Yeoman Warders (aka Beefeaters). Since being a Yeoman Warder is a reward for retired service members who had excellent records and some retired service people are now women, I experienced some female Yeoman Warders on this trip for the first time. The one who looked through my bag, jokingly tried to pocket the Cadbury hazlenut chocolate bar I had in there (along with a granola bar).
I think I have mentioned before that I am not a huge fan of large crowds and tend to do whatever I can to avoid them when possible. So, when I saw the masses grouped around a Yeoman Warder who had his back to Traitor’s Gate, I decided to forego the Yeoman Warder tour this time (as wonderfully entertaining as it is) and went up the stairs to the St Thomas Tower. The photo I have of the crowd was taken from the top of the stairs just before I entered that tower.
St Thomas Tower, which is the half-timbered structure over the Traitor’s Gate, had never been open any of the other times I had been there from 1983 to 2003. By 2017, the bedchamber had been restored to what they believed it looked like under Edward I (who built that tower). There was also a display showing how the walls were constructed in the Hall (a large room where the King could dine and entertain).
I crossed a small arch connecting the St Thomas Tower with the Wakefield Tower (built by Henry III) while allowing people to pass underneath down on the pavement between the outer wall and inner wall. An audience chamber from the time of Edward I had been recreated in the Wakefield Tower. This too was new. The throne was based on the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey and was painted to look like it might have looked in the 13th century. In the private chapel just off of the audience chamber, King Henry VI was murdered in 1471. When the Wakefield Tower had been open on prior visits, it had been stark and empty.
The St Thomas, Wakefield and Lanthorn Towers are all that is left of the Royal Apartments. From the Wakefield Tower I came out onto the walls between the outer ward and inner ward for the wall walk. Some of the remaining ruins of the rest of the Royal Apartments could be seen on the grounds of the innermost ward.
On the wall walk, I passed through the Lanthorn, Salt, Broad Arrow, Constable, Martin, Brick, Bowyer, and Flint Towers. The walk ended at the Devereux Tower near the Chapel. When I was there before, it had ended at the Martin Tower. Back in 1983, the wall walk had consisted of coming out of the Bloody Tower and down the stairs.
As I walked along the walls, down below, I could see medieval tents, costumed interpreters from several eras, and sculptures of some of the animals that had lived there when the Tower had a zoo. They didn’t have all that when I was last there. They also didn’t have any place to eat or any gift shops within the Tower precincts before.
Between the Martin Tower and the Brick Tower, I could look down at the fronts of some of the Yeoman Warder houses built against the outer wall in the outer ward. One thing about living at the Tower, they are there at night when all of the tourists are gone and the ghosts remain. Some of them have related some pretty scary stories over the years.
When I came down from the wall at the Devereux Tower, I walked out to the Tower Green. This was where the executions of people who they wanted to keep out of public view took place. They were beheadings. More public executions of prisoners at the Tower (beheadings or hangings) took place outside of the walls on Tower Hill. These were still royal or noble persons, not regular people.
Beauchamp Tower had much more of it open and contained displays. It is known for its graffiti by the many prisoners it had housed over the centuries, especially the 15th and 16th centuries. The one that I have always found poignant was Lady Jane Grey’s name scratched into the wall by her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley, shortly before they were both executed. She was only 17 and he was not that much older. The Beauchamp Tower was also where Lady Rochford, Henry VIII’s 5th wife Catherine Howard’s Lady in Waiting, was imprisoned. Lady Jane Grey and Lady Rochford were both buried in the Chapel.
After visiting the Beauchamp Tower, I went for some lunch at a spot between the Wakefield and Lanthorn Towers facing the innermost ward and the White Tower. I had an enormous smoked bratwurst with mustard and onions. There were a couple other lunch spots to sit down indoors and have more of a sit down meal. But it was a lovely day and I thought sitting outside would be preferable.
After lunch, I visited a display of torture devices in the lower part of Wakefield Tower. Other times when I had been there, they had exhibited the rack in the lower part of the Martin Tower. The lower portion of Wakefield Tower had not been open to the public then. Afterwards, I climbed the steps to the Bloody Tower.
Before entering the Bloody Tower, I took a photo of Traitor’s Gate with the St Thomas Tower above it through the arch of the Bloody Tower. The portcullis of the Bloody Tower can also be seen in the photo. Once inside, I took a shot of the rest of the portcullis.
The Bloody Tower is famous partly for housing Sir Walter Raleigh for several years (1603 – 1616). His room was still furnished as it had been every other time I had been there.
The Bloody Tower’s other claim to fame is the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. The room where the two children had supposedly been imprisoned was no longer furnished. It was just bare this time. I think it is because they really don’t know for certain where the princes were kept.
The bones of two children were discovered beneath the stairs leading to the White Tower back in 1647 and were reburied at Westminster Abbey in the chapel where Elizabeth I was also buried. They had gone missing, while under their Uncle Richard III’s care, in 1483.
On my way to climb the stairs to the White Tower, I encountered a female Yeoman Warder chatting with a knight in chainmail. The Yeoman Warders have been in existence since the time of Henry VIII, but the knight was definitely from a much earlier era.
The White Tower was chock full of stuff. Before, much of it had been sparsely decorated with a few suits of armor – notably one owned by Henry VIII – and a few scattered others. The Line of Kings (dating from the 17th century) had been refurbished. This consists of carved wooden horses accompanied by the armors of numerous kings. I had never seen them all before.
The Chapel of St John, which had always been bare, was decorated and furnished, but no photos were allowed. Every floor had loads of items, including an amazing amount of armor, and weapons (swords, daggers, bows, guns, spears, axes, mace, cannons).
After a parting photo of Traitor’s Gate, I headed for the boat to return to Westminster Pier. At the boat I was told that Westminster Pier was closed due to high tide and rough waves. They suggested that I go to Greenwich instead. The boat would be there for about a half hour, by which time it would be okay to go to Westminster Pier. By the time we got to Greenwich, it was raining heavily, so I just stayed on the boat and went through the photos I had taken that day on both my camera and my phone.
Roughly a block from my hotel, along the river, is Scotland Yard. As I went by to return to my hotel, I could see loads of police officers with automatic weapons drawn. There were also loads of television cameras. I didn’t think it would be a good idea to whip out my camera or phone, so I just walked on by as unobtrusively as possible.
It turned out that the real reason the boats weren’t going to Westminster Pier earlier was because Scotland Yard was involved in the take down of a terror suspect on Whitehall close to 10 Downing (the Prime Minister’s residence and offices). He was then taken to that particular building where he was being held. Both Whitehall and the Embankment had been shut down and were just reopened shortly before they let the boats return to the pier. It was all on the BBC that night.
Next time – first part of a Heart of England & Wales tour with Rabbie’s
Replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre 
Approaching the Tower of London 
The Tower of London 
Part of the crowd listening to the Yeoman Warder 
St Thomas Tower above Traitor’s Gate 
Wall of the hall inside St Thomas Tower 
Edward I’s Bedroom 
Tower Bridge seen from Tower 
Audience Chamber inside Wakefield Tower 
Turnpike Staircase in Wakefield Tower 
Entrance to chapel in Wakefield Tower 
Location of Henry VI’s murder 
On the wall walk 
Tents in the Inner Ward 
Sculptures of moneys 
Some Yeoman Warder residences 
The chapel seen from the wall 
Tower Green 
Carving of Lady Jane Grey’s name by her husband 
St Thomas Tower seen through arch of Bloody Tower 
Portcullis of Bloody Tower 
Sir Walter Raleigh’s room in the Bloody Tower 
Yeoman Warder with a Costumed Interpreter 
Part of the Line of Kings in the White Tower 
The Traitor’s Gate 
Looking from the Embankment to Whitehall