The Tower of London, a Fortress, a Palace, a prison

The Royal Chapel of Saint-Pierre-Ad-Vincula is the parish church of the Tower of London. It is a small rectangular stone building located in the northwest corner of the inner courtyard of the tower. It dates from 1520. The chapel now serves as a place of worship for the inhabitants of the Tower. The St. Peter's Chapel is best known as the burial place of some of the most famous prisoners of the Tower, Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the second and fifth wives of Henry VIII and Lady Jane Gray, who reigned for nine days in 1553. George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn, accused of incest with her, was also buried in the chapel after her execution in 1536, as did Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson, tax collectors for Henry VII. Thomas More and John Fisher, who suffered the anger of Henry VIII and were later executed, and later canonized as martyrs by the Roman Catholic Church, are also buried there, as well as Henry VIII's minister, Thomas Cromwell, the Earl of Essex, who was executed on Henry's orders in 1540. James Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, led a rebellion against his uncle James II and was executed on 15 July 1685 on Tower Hill. He is also buried in the chapel. The chapel underwent extensive renovation in the Victorian era. During the restoration, the coffins of many mutilated victims of the tyranny of Henry VIII were exposed in the nave. All were removed from the crypt. Queen Victoria had a memorial pavement of green and red marble placed in the sanctuary, which has the names and coats of arms of all those executed by King Henry VIII below. A list of "remarkable people" buried in the chapel between 1534 and 1747 can be seen on a table on the west wall.

Kings and queens of England have stored crowns, robes, and other items of their ceremonial regalia at the Tower of London for over 600 years. Since the 1600s, the coronation regalia itself, commonly known as the 'Crown Jewels' have been protected at the Tower. Over 30 million people have seen them in their present setting at the Tower. They are possibly the most visited objects in Britain, perhaps the world. But most remarkable of all is that this a unique working collection. The Imperial State Crown is usually worn by the monarch for the State Opening of Parliament. When the next coronation comes around, key items will be taken to Westminster in readiness for the ceremony.

Founded by King John in the early 1200s, the Royal Menagerie became home to more than 60 species of animal. This began a long tradition of kings and queens keeping exotic animals as symbols of power and for the entertainment and curiosity of the court.Animals were also exchanged throughout Europe as regal gifts, but sadly, they were often mistreated.

It is said that tthttps://www.speakeasy-news.com/guardians-of-the-tower It is said that the kingdom and the Tower of London will fall if the six resident ravens ever leave the fortress. There are nine ravens at the Tower today. Charles II is thought to have been the first to insist that the ravens of the Tower be protected after he was warned that the crown and the Tower itself would fall if they left. The King's order was given against the wishes of his astronomer, John Flamsteed, who complained the ravens impeded the business of his observatory in the White Tower. The ravens are free to roam the Tower precincts during the day and preside over four different territories within the Tower's walls. Ravens are intelligent birds and each of ours has its own personality; they can mimic sounds, play games and solve problems.

The Medieval Palace once lay at the heart of what was formerly the residential area of the Tower. These were richly decorated and comfortable lodgings, grand enough for any medieval monarch. Medieval monarchs never stayed at the Tower for very long, and it was usually for a specific purpose rather than pleasure, although the palace had to be fit for royalty, even for short visits.

Kings and queens of England have stored crowns, robes, and other items of their ceremonial regalia at the Tower of London for over 600 years. Since the 1600s, the coronation regalia itself, commonly known as the 'Crown Jewels' have been protected at the Tower. Over 30 million people have seen them in their present setting at the Tower. They are possibly the most visited objects in Britain, perhaps the world. But most remarkable of all is that this a unique working collection. The Imperial State Crown is usually worn by the monarch for the State Opening of Parliament. When the next coronation comes around, key items will be taken to Westminster in readiness for the ceremony.

The Great Tower was finished just ten years after William the Conqueror died. The tower was designed and directed by Norman masons, but the hard labour was done by the English. The next significant developments were undertaken in 1190. Two curtain walls, which were defensive walls between two turrets, were built. These made the keep safer because the invaders would have to get through the new wall before they could reach it. Alongside this was a great ditch, which enclosed the tower; a curtain wall, which extended off the original Roman wall; another ditch, which was supposed to be made a moat from the Thames but failed; a second curtain wall, which was on the north side of the tower. All these things added other layers of defence onto the castle as they stopped attackers reaching the inside efficiently. The castle was developed further in the same year; the Wardrobe Tower was completed, and the Bell Tower work commenced. The Wardrobe Tower kept clothes and jewellery belonging to the monarch. The Bell Tower is quite famous because of Mary Queen of Scots’ long imprisonment there. It housed a bell, hence the name, which rang as an alarm for an attack. Fortunately, nowadays that doesn’t happen, and the bell is only used for the closing time of the museum.

The Bloody Tower, one of the 21 towers which, together, form the Tower of London complex, was built in the early 1220s during the reign of King Henry III. The Bloody Tower is most strongly associated with the supposed murder of the 12-year-old Edward V and his younger brother, Richard, in 1483. Tradition says that they stayed in these rooms on the orders of their uncle, the future Richard III. The princes' subsequent disappearance remains one of the most intriguing stories of the Tower's history. As the rumours grew, the tower was renamed the 'Bloody Tower' from the Garden Tower According to legend, the Bloody Tower is haunted by the ghosts of the two princes. Guards in the late fifteenth century reported that passing the Bloody Tower, they sighted the shadows of two small figures gliding down the stairs still wearing the white nightshirts they had on the night they disappeared. They were said to stand silently, hand in hand, before fading back into the stones of the Bloody Tower. The Bloody Tower is believed to derive its present name from the suicide of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, within its walls, in 1585. Many others have been imprisoned there while waiting for their demise.

The Tower of London even. served as the site of The Royal Mint from 1279 until 1810, providing UK coins to the people of Britain for more than 500 years.

The infamous entrance to the Tower of London, Traitors Gate, is the water-gate entrance to the Tower of London complex and forms part of St. Thomas' Tower, which was built to provide additional royal accommodation. . The gate was built by Edward I. In the proceeding centuries, as the Tower of London increasingly came to be used as a prison for enemies of the state accused of treason, it acquired its current name of Traitors Gate due to the number of prisoners, accused of treason who have passed through it. In Tudor times, such famous political prisoners as Edward, Duke of Buckingham, Queen Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Queen Catherine Howard, the tragic Lady Jane Grey, Seymour, Duke of Somerset, Princess Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth I), Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex and James, Duke of Monmouth, the errant son of Charles II, all entered the Tower by the fearsome Traitors' Gate

The Tower’s current moat was actually originally dug as a defense ditch, by a Henry III worried about his sketchy relationship with his barons. It was first filled in by his successor Edward I, in the 13th century, and connected to the Thames. Over the years, the different levels of the Thames and moat meant the moat didn’t drain properly; so it filled up with silt, and became, essentially, an unpleasant bog. In 1830, the Duke of Wellington ordered a large-scale clearing of the moat, but that didn’t stop several members of the garrison dying in the 1840s of what was believed to be water-borne diseases. In the end, the increasingly smelly and sluggish moat was drained and converted into a dry ditch.

Officially Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, it is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. A fortress, a palace and a prison, explore and learn more about The Tower of London.