49 Fun Facts About Tower of London

What shielded the first Tower of London's eastern side?

The Roman wall already covered the east and the Thames the south, so the builders only had to dig a ditch along the other two sides.

Which king founded the Tower of London in 1066?

William the Conqueror, fresh from victory but nervous of rebellion, built it to overawe Londoners rather than shelter them: a fortress looming over the city he had just taken.

Which 888,246 objects filled the Tower of London's moat in 2014 as a war memorial?

Ceramic poppies, one for each British military death of 1914-18; volunteers planted them by hand, and every one was then sold for £25, raising millions for service charities.

Which London borough contains the fortress?

Tower Hamlets, not the City next door: the fortress stands right on the City's border, sited both to shield London and to keep its citizens under control.

Gundulf, the monk who oversaw the White Tower's building, held which office?

Bishop of Rochester; the king chose him for his skill with stone, and he went on to rebuild Rochester's cathedral and raise its first stone castle.

The Tower's first recorded prisoner escaped in 1101 by a rope hidden in what?

A wine container: Ranulf Flambard got his guards drunk on it, then climbed out of a White Tower window, the first prisoner and the first escapee.

Which king gave the Tower of London its outer wall and the layout it has kept since 1285?

Edward I built a second curtain wall on the line of his father's moat and dug a vast new moat beyond it; the basic shape survives today.

Which scientist ran the Royal Mint inside the Tower of London and hunted down counterfeiters?

Isaac Newton was handed the wardenship in 1696 as a comfortable sinecure but took it seriously, personally pursuing coin clippers and forgers, and stayed at the Mint until his death.

Whose silvered armour in the White Tower, made around 1515, shows a slim, athletic king of 24?

Henry VIII was a lean jouster at 24 when it was made; his 1540 armour nearby fits the overweight 49-year-old of legend.

St John's Chapel, inside the White Tower, is a rare complete survival of which style of architecture?

Norman: from 1100 new Knights of the Bath took a ritual bath, then kept an all-night vigil here before escorting the monarch to the coronation.

The Beauchamp Tower is famous for what, left on its walls by prisoners?

Carved graffiti: Thomas Abel, a queen's chaplain jailed for opposing her divorce, signed himself with a pun, the letter A cut into a picture of a bell.

Which nightly Tower of London ritual features the sentry's challenge 'Halt, who comes there'?

The Ceremony of the Keys locks the fortress every night; the story goes that the one time a wartime bomb blew the Chief Yeoman Warder off his feet, he dusted himself down and finished it slightly late.

According to tradition, the two young princes who vanished in 1483 were lodged in which part of the Tower of London?

The Bloody Tower, until then the Garden Tower, earned its gory name as rumours grew that the boys had been murdered inside it.

The water-gate beneath St Thomas's Tower, built as a royal river entrance, is better known by which name?

Traitors' Gate began as the king's private entrance, his barge mooring beneath the arch; the name came later, as prisoners accused of treason were rowed in the same way.

The Tower of London's Yeoman Warders are better known by which nickname?

Beefeaters: the name's origin is uncertain, but the favourite story is that the royal bodyguard could eat as much beef as they liked from the king's table.

Eleven spies were shot inside the Tower during which war?

The First World War: the first, Carl Hans Lody, asked the officer leading him out whether he would shake hands with a German spy, and was told, 'No. But I will shake hands with a brave man.'

Where were most prisoners condemned at the Tower of London executed?

Tower Hill, just outside the walls, where beheadings were public spectacles; dying inside the fortress was a privilege of rank that spared the condemned the gawping crowds.

Which queen of Henry VIII was beheaded at the Tower in 1536?

Anne Boleyn was spared the axe: Henry had an expert swordsman brought from France; told he was very good, she joked, 'I have a little neck.'

Which teenage rival for Mary I's throne was beheaded at the Tower in 1554?

Lady Jane Grey reigned for just nine days, put on the throne by her father-in-law's coup; Mary spared her at first, and only a second rebellion months later sealed her fate.

Which Gunpowder Plotter was tortured at the Tower before confessing in November 1605?

Guy Fawkes held out for days; James I's own warrant ordered 'the gentler tortures' first, then harsher ones, and the shaky signature on his confession shows the result.

Which torture device at the Tower of London was nicknamed 'the Duke of Exeter's daughter'?

The rack, said to have been brought in by a Constable of that name, left Anne Askew so broken in 1546 that she had to be carried to her own execution.

Which courtier's Tower rooms were altered so his family could live with him?

Walter Raleigh spent 13 years inside in some comfort, joined by his wife, son and three servants, growing exotic plants and brewing herbal cordials in his own garden.

Which future queen was held prisoner in the Tower of London in 1554 by her own half-sister?

Elizabeth I was suspected of plotting against Mary; with no hard evidence found she left the Tower after two months, but only for house arrest, and was crowned within five years.

Which baron escaped the Tower of London in 1323 and returned to overthrow Edward II with the king's own queen?

Roger Mortimer's allies drugged the garrison's drink at a feast; he slipped through a hole in his cell wall, scaled the walls on rope ladders and reached a boat waiting on the Thames.

Who was the last monarch to ride in procession from the Tower to a coronation?

Charles II made the ride in April 1661, but the Tower's royal lodgings were by then so run-down that he arrived by boat that morning rather than sleep there.

In the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, rebels who got inside the Tower of London beheaded which high official?

Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Sudbury was also Lord Chancellor, blamed by the rebels for their woes; they seized him at prayer in the chapel and cut off his head.

Which king, deposed in the Wars of the Roses, was imprisoned in the Tower and probably murdered there in 1471?

Henry VI officially died of 'melancholy', though his supporters said he was stabbed at prayer; Eton and King's College, which he founded, still lay lilies and roses at the Tower each May.

Where were bones thought to be the Princes in the Tower reburied?

Westminster Abbey, by royal order, in a white marble urn designed by Christopher Wren; they lie there still, and nobody has ever proved whose bones they are.

Which uncle lodged Edward V in the Tower in 1483, then took the crown?

Richard III, named Lord Protector, moved his nephew into the Tower 'for protection', had him declared illegitimate, and was crowned in his place within three months.

Who tried to steal the Crown Jewels from Martin Tower in 1671?

Colonel Thomas Blood was caught fleeing with the crown, yet talked his way into an audience with the king and left with a full pardon and Irish lands worth £500 a year.

What did Parliament do with England's medieval crown at the Tower of London after executing Charles I in 1649?

Melted it down: hoping to end monarchy for good, Parliament had the regalia destroyed, the gems sold off and the gold struck into coins stamped 'Commonwealth of England'.

Which piece of royal regalia survived the Commonwealth and is about 800 years old?

The Coronation Spoon survived because a royal wardrobe official bought it when the late king's goods were sold off, then handed it back at the Restoration.

The Crown Jewels are now displayed in which Tower of London building, put up as soldiers' barracks in the 1840s?

The Waterloo Block rose on the ashes of the Grand Storehouse, gutted by fire in 1841; built to sleep 1,000 soldiers, its ground floor now holds the jewels, which had been kept in the Martin Tower until that year.

Which Imperial State Crown stone at the Tower is not the gem its name claims?

The Black Prince's Ruby is really a spinel, from the days when every fine red stone was called a ruby; a Spanish king is said to have paid the prince with it in 1367 for winning him a battle.

Which royal gift from Norway was let out of the Tower of London to fish in the Thames?

A polar bear: it was kept muzzled and chained on land, but let out on a stout cord to swim in the river and catch its own fish.

In 1255 the King of France sent Henry III which animal, which got its own 40-foot house at the Tower of London?

An elephant caused a sensation: Londoners flocked 'to see the novel sight', but despite its brand-new house and a dedicated keeper it died after only two years.

Which animals gave their name to the now-demolished tower that housed the Tower of London's royal menagerie?

Lions lived in the Lion Tower, built at the western entrance in the 1270s, so for centuries visitors came in past the royal beasts.

Where were most of the Tower's animals sent when the menagerie closed in 1831?

The Duke of Wellington ordered the closure after a biting incident; the last animals left in 1835.

What does legend say happens if the Tower's ravens leave?

The kingdom falls, the legend runs, so nobody takes chances: at least six ravens live there at all times, and the Ravenmaster trims their flight feathers to encourage them to stay.

Every Yeoman Warder at the Tower must first serve 22 years in what?

The armed forces: each warder must also have reached warrant officer rank and hold a long service and good conduct medal, so the tour guides are all decorated veterans.

Who was the last state prisoner held at the Tower, for four days in 1941?

Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, had flown solo to Scotland, apparently hoping to broker peace; after four days at the Tower he was moved on, and he died in Spandau prison in 1987, aged 93.

In what position was the last man executed at the Tower shot?

In a chair: German spy Josef Jakobs had broken his ankle parachuting into England six months earlier, and the chair he was shot in is still on show at the Tower.

Which diarist climbed the Tower to watch the Great Fire of London in 1666?

Samuel Pepys saw the houses by London Bridge ablaze from up there, hurried to Whitehall, and told the king that only pulling houses down could stop the fire.

Which Constable of the Tower of London had its foul-smelling moat drained in the 1840s?

The Duke of Wellington acted after a deadly infection in the garrison was blamed on the 'obnoxious smell' of the muddy moat at low tide; it has been a dry ditch ever since.

Which independent charity looks after the Tower of London and opens it to visitors?

Historic Royal Palaces gets no money from government or the Crown: though the king owns the Tower, its upkeep is paid for entirely by what the charity earns and raises itself.

UNESCO says the Tower of London's World Heritage status is threatened by what?

Nearby skyscrapers: UNESCO said new towers 'appear not to respect' the 900-year-old fortress's setting, and in 2006 came close to moving it onto its Heritage in Danger list.

Where at the Tower of London are royal gun salutes fired?

The riverside wharf: army reservists fire 62 rounds beside the Thames, nearly three times the basic royal salute, partly because the Tower still ranks as a royal palace and fortress.

Which Roman ruler was long credited in legend with building the Tower?

Julius Caesar gets the credit even in Shakespeare, where a boy prince bound for the fortress asks whether he built it; in truth it rose more than a thousand years after Caesar's raids on Britain.

The Royal Fusiliers were raised at the Tower of London in 1685 to guard what?

The artillery: ordinary muskets were fired with a smouldering match, a menace around open powder barrels, so the new regiment got flintlock 'fusils' instead and took its name from them.