Tales From The Tower

The White Tower

I love to read history books and the Tower of London makes an appearance in nearly every historical tale of intrigue, murder and treason I read; so it was kind of odd that I knew so much about the place but had never actually been. Well that all changed yesterday when I finally took myself up for a little jaunt.

I'd been thinking of going for a while but yesterday I decided to actually get off my arse and do it. So I hopped on a train to London Bridge Station (around an hour away) walked across the bridge and joined the tourists piling in to the 1000 year old Tower of London.

Henry VIII 

I'd made a bit of a faux pas by going on a Saturday when it was rammed full of tourists, but I went in around 1pm so after a few hours it was much quieter which really made a difference. It's nice to me able to get a sense of the place without so many people around as well as getting a clear shot when taking photos!

Memorial on the Tower Hill site looking towards the Jewel House on the right

The place was absolutely amazing. It was atmospheric and rammed so full of history that I could hardly bear it. Not all of it was 1000 years old of course, as it had been rebuilt and added to over the centuries, but you just felt like so much had happened there. So many people's lives were played out there - so many ends of people's lives as well.

One of my favourite places in a kind of macabre way was the Beauchamp Tower which had been the last stop for many people destined for the block. Many of them had carved their names or messages into the walls and these were still there protected by clear plastic - some were written 500 years ago. It's not often you get to see or think about something like that.

Obviously I also went to see the crown jewels which were in a series dark rooms protected by the thickest doors I'd ever seen. You go past the rows of crowns on a moving walkway which I guess is to stop people crowding round them and blocking the view. They were the sparkliest things I'd ever seen - very bling.

Traitors Gate

There was some stuff I wasn't so interested in like the gold plate and the weaponry, but seeing the armour that Henry VIII, Edward VI (his son) and James I wore was the stuff of dreams for geeky lil me. And finally seeing Traitors Gate where Elizabeth I was bought in to the Tower on the order of her sister Mary was pretty cool as well. She must have been terrified - no wonder she wasn't fond of staying there once she became Queen.

London Skyline From the Tower

We are lucky to have so much history readily available in this country. We have castles, palaces and stately homes coming out of our ears; we can go to a 7th century Anglo Saxon royal burial ground, see Henry VIII's 500 year old flagship the Mary Rose, and see stone circles that are almost 5000 years old if we want to. We live amongst our history, and I love that we're surrounded by ancient reminders of who we are, how we got here, and the people we came from.