Tickets in hand we entered the Tower and right away got on a Yeoman's tour (aka Beefeater). The yeoman was fantastic. He was so personable and had a loud booming voice. Did you know that in order to apply to be a yeoman, you must have at least 22 years of military service, have reached the rank of warrant officer, and have been awarded the long service and good conduct medal? It takes months of mentoring before a yeoman candidate is allowed to conduct tours on their own. Like I said, ours was fantastic.
Our first stop on the tour were the gates that led to the Thames River. The gates in the picture shown are at the top of about 8 steps that led into the water. Prisoners for the tower were brought up the Thames to this gate (Traitor's Gate), led up the steps, and led to the tower. Anne Boleyn came up these steps.
From here we were led across the tower grounds to the public beheading place. There is a memorial to those who were beheaded here. The Memorial read "Gentle visitor pause awhile where you stand death cut away the light of many days - here jewelled names were broken from the vivid thread of life - may they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage - under these restless skies." All of the executions took place within a few yards of each other and included Jane Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and more. Following the stop here we headed to The Chapel Royal.
Sitting in this beautiful chapel, we were quite surprised to learn that buried beneath our feet were many of those who were executed. The reasoning for this was that the king did not want these people to be made into martyrs so after they were beheaded, they were carried into the chapel and buried so that the public couldn't get to the bodies.
In the center of the chapel was a very large sarcophagus. We were all expecting to hear that someone important was buried there. That was not the case. It turns out that during the middle ages when looting was rampant, the huge gold fountain that currently is in the back of the chapel was "buried" in the sarcophagus. Unfortunately, the keepers of that secret all died and it wasn't until the chapel was being renovated in modern times that they learned there wasn't a body in there at all but rather gold.
This was the end of the yeoman's tour, but there was still quite a bit to see. One thing that really amazed me was the suit of armor made for Henry VIII. Let's just say that he went out of his way to protect something he obviously felt was his "biggest" asset. It was almost pornographic in appearance.
We also saw the Crown Jewels and many more signs of opulence and wealth. We walked along the walls and took pictures of the Tower Bridge (quite an awesome sight). We also toured the room where in 1483 Edward IV's sons 12 year old Edward V and 9 year old Richard were taken by their uncle. The boys disappeared and their uncle was crowned King Richard III. It wasn't until 1674 that the remains of the princes were found. To this day, mystery still surrounds their disappearance.
We finished up the Tower visit with a snack of hot fish and chips and sat outside the tower overlooking the grounds.
After awhile we made our way back to the hotel and rested before a quick dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant and a train ride to the theatre to see Spamalot. Awesome show - loved it, loved it, loved it.
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