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"The Tower in London
is one of the most essential sights in London and
a window into a fascinating and bloody history. Tower is also one of
the city's three World Heritage Sites (the others are Westminster
Abbey and its surrounding buildings and Maritime Greenwich).
[1]. " And the most famous exhibits here are the Crown Jewels
placed in the Jewel House, Waterloo Block.
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"Begun as a simple watchtower, built by William
the Conqueror to keep an eye on the City, the Tower had
evolved into a palace fortress by 1100. The inner curtain wall,
with its numerous towers, was built in the time of Henry
III, and a further line of outer fortifications, plus an
even wider moat, were added by Edward I, which
means that most of what's visible today was already in place by
1307, the year of Edward's death. [2]. "
"The White Tower, the keep at the center of the
complex, dates back to William the Conqueror and
includes the magnificent heavy round arches and groin vaults of
the 13th century St John Chapel. More importantly,
the White Tower corresponds to every myth ever invented
about England. Its history is packed with tales
of royal pageantry, dastardly baronial plots, ghoulish tortures
and gruesome executions. The White Tower is still guarded
by quaint liveried figures, the Beefeaters, who
obligingly conduct their Ceremony of the Keys at 9:45 each evening
(which, as all the literature tells you, involves lots of key-clanking
and praise of the monarch as the chief warder request the opening
of the gates of Byward Tower from a sentry).[3]. "
"For much of its 900 year history the Tower was an object
of fear. Those who had offended the monarch were held within
its dank walls. A lucky few lived in comparative comfort, but the
majority had to put up with appalling conditions. Many did not get
out alive, and were tortured before meeting cruelly violent deaths
on nearby Tower Hill. [4]. "
"The Tower main entrance to the Inner Ward is beneath a 3.5 ton, seven
hundred year old portcullis, which forms part of
the Bloody Tower. Here the 12 year old Edward V
and his 10 year old brother were accommodated "for their own safety"
in 1483 by their uncle, Richard of Gloucester (later
to be Richard III), after the death of their father,
Edward IV.
Of all the Tower's many inhabitants, few have so captured the public
imagination as the "Princes in the Tower", due
in part to Sir Thomas More's detailed account of
their murder. According to More, they were smothered in their beds,
and buried naked at the foot of the Tower.
In 1674, during repair work, the skeletons of two young children
were discovered one on top of the other close to the Tower; they
were subsequently buried in Innocents' Corner in Westminster
Abbey. Some have contended that Richard III
has been the victim of Tudor propaganda, and that
several other people in high places were equally keen to dispose
of the little dears; the jury is still out on this one.
The Bloody Tower's other illustrious inmate even more famous
in his time than the princes was Walter Ralegh,
who spent three separate periods in the Tower.
His first stay was in 1592, when he incurred the displeasure of
Elizabeth I for impregnating one of her ladies
in waiting; his second and longest spell began in 1603, when his
death sentence for suspected involvement in the Gunpowder
Plot was commuted to life imprisonment.
In the event, he spent thirteen years here growing and smoking tobacco
(his most famous import), writing poetry, concocting various
dubious potions in his distillery and completing the first volume
of his History of the World, which in its day outsold even
Shakespeare, despite being banned by James I
for being "too saucy in censuring princes". Ralegh's
study is recreated on the ground floor, while his sleeping quarters,
built especially to accommodate his wife, children and three servants,
are upstairs. When Ralegh complained that the noise
of the portcullis kept him awake at night, he was
moved to much worse accommodation. Ralegh was eventually
released in 1610 and sent off to Guyana to discover
gold, on condition that he didn't attack the Spanish.
He broke his word and was sent straight back to the Tower on his
return in 1618. For six weeks he was imprisoned in "one of the most
cold and direful dungeons", before being beheaded at Westminster.
[5]. "
References
[1] David Else et al.,Britain. Footscray: Lonely Planet Publications
Pty Ltd, 2003.
[2], [5] Rob Humphreys, The Rough Guide To London. London: Rough
Guides Ltd, 2001.
[3] Andrew. Gumbel, London. London: Cadogan Books plc, 1998.
[4] Michael Leapman, Eyewitness Travel Guides London. London: Dorling
Kindersley Limited, 2000.
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