Page 37 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

GREAT BRITAIN 35

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White Tower>- ATLAI'JTIC
When the tower was OCEAI'J eEdinburgh f'JORTII
completed in 1097, it SEA
was the ta lies t building in GREAT
London, at 90ft (27m) high. IRELAND BRITAIN
THE )
Nineteenth-century Tower Birmingham •
Bridge, which overlooks ~~~;r
6~t 6~g-'J ~ Q
the Tower of London >-
FRANCE ~

THE LEGEND OF THE RAVENS
Beauchamp Tower>-
Many hi gh-r anki ng The tower's most eel ebrated residents are a
prisoners were held in this colony of seven ravens. It is not known when
tower-built by Edward I they first settled here, but these scavenger birds
around 1281-often with would have arrived soon after the castle was
a retinue of servants.
constructed to feed off the abundant refuse.
Their presence has been protected by a legend
Salt Tower that says that should the birds desert the tower,
Prisoners' inscriptions are
carved into lhewalls of this the kingdom will faiL In fact, they have their
tower's two residential rooms, wings clipped on one side, making flight
which were used as prison cells impossible. The Ravenmaster, one of the
during Tudor times. "Beefeaters," looks after the birds.

FAMOUS PRISONERS
Queen's House>-
This Tudor building The tower has been prison to kings, queens, and
is the sovereign's notorious characters throughout its history. One
official residence of the first monarchs to be held here was Henry
at the tower.
VI, who was murdered while at prayer in 1471.
The Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV,
was convicted of treason and killed by drowning
in a cask of wine in 1478. Two of Henry VIII's
wives, and his former chancellor, Sir Thomas
More, were beheaded here. Even Elizabeth I was
held in the tower for two months, and on her
death in 1603, Sir Walter Raleigh, her favorite
explorer, was imprisoned and later executed.
The last prisoner, held in the Queen's House
in 1941, was Rudolf Hess, deputy leader of
the Nazi party.

THE WHITE TOWER
Work on the White Tower, the oldest surviving
building in the tower, was begun in 1078. It was
designed as a palace-fortress to accommodate
the king and the Constable of the Tower, the
"Beefeaters" >- garrison commander. Each had their own
Thirty-seven Yeoman Warders
guard Ill e tower and I ive rooms, i ncl udi ng a hall for public occasions, a
here. Their uniforms harken A Chapel of St John partitioned chamber, and a chapel When the
back to Tudor times. This austerely beautiful Romanesque fortress was enlarged a century later, both king
chapel is a pa rti cui a rly fine example and constable moved to new residences. On the
of Norman architecture.
TORTURE AND DEATH upper two stories, the monarch's elegant royal
suite was used to hold distinguished prisoners.
Early prisoners in the Tower of London,
who were sentenced to execution, could The ceremonial chambers were twice their
look forward to a drawn-out death. In the KEY DATES present height. Rising through two floors is the
14th and 15th centuries, many would Chapel of St. John, an exquisite early-Norman
1078 1533 1601 1841
have been hanged, drawn, and quartered, church. This was once decorated with rich
or burned at the stake, although some may v..brk begins Henry VIII The last vi::tim Fire destroys furnishings, painted stonework, and stained-
have been stretched on a rack first. Others on building the marries Anne oft he ax is part of the glass windows, but these were removed in 1550
White Tower. Boleyn at beheaded on White Tower.
were disemboweled or hacked to pieces.
the tower. ToW?r Green. during the English Reformation. In the 1600s,
the tower served as a storehouse and armory.