Jillian's Tower of London page

Tower of London

The Tower of London is by far one of the most famous and well preserved historical buildings in the world.

From its earliest structural beginnings by its founder William I of England better known as William the Conqueror 1066-87, the Great Tower or White Tower as it later came to be called was fast becoming the most talked-about building in England.
The White Tower was also the most awe inspiring, and frightening structure to the Anglo-Saxon people who were trying to get used to the rule of their new Norman king, the destroyer of their own ruler, Harold II,in 1066. Within three months of his victory William the Conqueror had begun to build a castle on the north bank of the river Thames in London.

Since the first foundations were laid more than 900 years ago the castle has been constantly improved and extended by the addition of other smaller towers, extra buildings, walls and walkways, gradually evolving into the splendid example of castle, fortress, prison, palace and finally museum that it proudly represents today.

Today people visit the castle to look at the historic buildings where many people were beheaded and also to view the Crown Jewels.

The Tower is guarded by the Yoeman of the Guard in their distinct red uniforms.

Some of the people who were killed at the Tower of London

1305
In 1297 William Wallace, a patriotic Scot of Welsh descent, rebbelled against the English rule in Scotland. He defeated the English at Stirling Bridge but he himself was defeated at Falkirk im 1298. In 1305 he was betrayed to the English and brought to London and as an outlaw beheaded.' It is also said that he was tied to horses tails and hanged till nearly dead, his bowels torn out and burned, his head cut off and his body quartered (the customary penalty for treason).

1465
Henry VI became a prisoner of his own Tower of London, his throne usurped by Edward IV. In 1470 he was restored as a puppet monarch but after a final victory at Tewkesbury a year later when his only child, Edward, was killed. the deposed kings own turn came. He died in the Tower 18 days later.

1483
Before Richard, Duke of Gloucester could be crowned Richard III he had one obstacle to overcome, Edward IV's two sons Edward V and Richard Duke of York.
These were the princes in the Tower and theirs is perhaps the saddest tale from the Tower's long and bloody history.
Edward IV died on 9th April 1483 and soon after Edward V was escorted to the Tower by Gloucester, who had assumed the role of Protector. Officially the prince was there to await his coronation however this was to never happen.
On the 13th June when the coronation was being planned by many Lords including William, Lord Hastings (a trusted friend of Edward IV), Gloucester rushed in and amongst cries of treason had William taken to Tower Hill and beheaded.

Three days later the Duke of Gloucester persuaded the Queen to send Richard to stay with his brother in the Tower and for a while they could be seen playing in the gardens around the Tower but gradually they appeared less and less until eventually they were not seen outside ever again. Two assassins who were sent to the Tower they smothered the children in their beds and the bodies were buried in the precincts, after this the Garden Tower was renamed The Bloody Tower.
In 1674, when workmen were demolishing a stone staircase on the south side of the White Tower, they found a chest containing two childsize skeletons. None doubted that these were the bodies of the two princes and Charles II ordered that the remains be taken to Innocents' corner in Westminster Abbey.

1535
Sir Thomas More A Lord Chancellor,refused to acknowledge Henry VIII as supreme head of the English Church. He also protested against the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, who had given Henry only one living child, the Princess Mary.

1536
Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII second wife, was taken to the Tower on a charge of adultery. As a prisoner her trial took place in the medieval great hall, where she was sentenced to be burned or beheaded as pleased the King. In front of the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, her head was cut off and her remains were buried inside the chapel.

1542
Catherine Howard, Henry VIII fifth wife Catherine went the way of her cousin Anne Boleyn she was tried and condemned and on the 13th February 1542 she was beheaded at the Tower of London.

1549
Thomas Seymour , who was Lord Seymour of Sudeley, Lord High Admiral of England and who had married Henry VIII's widow, Catherine Parr. Thomas Seymour was executed in 1549

1554
Lady Jane Grey, upon marrying Lord Guildford Dudley, the fourth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, she was in line of succession. Northumberland persuaded the young Edward on his death bed to transfer the rights of his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.
After the kings death on 6th July 1553, lady Jane was publicly proclaimed at the Tower, but within eight days Mary's supporters rose in strength. On the 31st July lady Jane's father, Henry Duke of Suffolk entered her chamber, tore down the canopy of state and told her she was no longer Queen. She begged to go home, but he turned her away. She was now a prisoner of the state, and Suffolk himself was soon to share her fate.
In February 1554, Lady Jane watched her husband go from the Beauchamp Tower to his death on Tower Hill, a few hours before her own execution on the Green. They were buried in the chapel, which also holds the bones of the executed Northumberland and his old enemy, Protector Somerset.

1606
Guy Fawkes(1570-1606) was a Leading conspirator in the GUNPOWDER PLOT to blow up parliament. He was a Catholic convert who had served in the Spanish army before becoming involved in the plot. Fawkes and his fellow conspirators were taken to the Tower and interrogated in the Queens House. He himself was racked, perhaps in the basement of the Wakefield Tower, where the instruments of torture are believed to have been kept. In January 1606 with three others, he was drawn on a hurdle from the Tower to the Houses of Parliament and there hanged, beheaded and quartered.

1618
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) was an explorer known for his expeditions to the Americas , and for allegedly bringing tobacco and the potato from the New World to the British Isles. A favourite of Elizabeth I, he fell thoroughly out of favour and spent 12 years in the Tower on a charge of plotting against King James I. He was released in 1616, only to find himself back there in 1618 after his fruitless expedition to look for gold mines in Guiana. This time he was kept in 'one of the most cold and direful dungeons' before being beheaded six weeks later

Legends

Legend has it that should the ravens ever leave the Tower of London the White Tower will crumble and a great disaster shall befall England.
For many centuries ravens have been known to be residents of the Tower of London and are now an important feature protected by royal decree.
A strange fact is that the only recorded time that there were no ravens at the Tower was in 1946. As this was just after World War 11 and England had come perilously close to falling so maybe the legend carries some weight after all.

Ghost of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn, the most celebrated of the wives of Henry VIII was beheaded on Tower Green in 1536. Her ghost has frequently been seen both on the Green and more spectacularly in the Chapel Royal situated in the White Tower.

A well known sighting of Anne Boleyn's ghost in 1864 was by a sentry standing guard at the Queen's house. The guard saw and challenged a white shape that appeared suddenly veiled in mist. When the challenge went unanswered the sentry put his bayonet into the figure but he was overcome with shock when it went straight through the figure without meeting any resistance. This story was corroborated by two onlookers who saw the whole event from a window of the Bloody Tower.

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