Tower of London – 18th October 2007   by Megan Claridge aged 11

We walked along the side of the Thames on our way to the Tower of London.  Once we had got there we went to see the Crown Jewels.  We saw the State Imperial Crown and a video of Queen Elizabeth II wearing it at her coronation.  We also got to see the Orb and Sceptre.  They are both made from solid gold.  The sceptre has the largest diamond in the world in it, which comes from South Africa.  We saw lots of crowns and jewels in there and even got to see how crowns were made!  Then we found out that Oliver Cromwell had destroyed the original Crown Jewels and that when Charles II became King he created new ones.  Many people have tried to steal the jewels.  There was one lady who tried to steal them in an attempt to draw attention to women wanting the vote.

Then we went into the White Tower.  In order to get in you had to climb up a dozen or so steps.  That was so if people were attacking, they would have to go up a fairly narrow staircase which gave others enough time to defend themselves.  As soon as I was inside, I noticed how thick the walls were.  They were 4 metres thick!  The White Tower was originally built by William I (also known as William the Conqueror) on the site of houses in the original Roman Londinium.  As we walked along we saw weapons that Henry VIII would have used something like.  We also saw Henry VIII’s armour.  In the same room were loads of barrels that would have contained gun powder, but after the Fire of London in 1666 they moved most of it out as they realised the danger of having it there.  Up a spiral staircase we came across the garderobes (toilets).  As we went up further, we saw a painting of two princes aged about ten and twelve.  They were said to have gone missing, but then we saw where their skeletons were found two hundred years later by the staircase.  It is said that their uncle Richard III may have murdered them in order to be king.  My brother got to try on a helmet dating to the 1700s civil war.  He also tried on chain mail and he was the only person that day who was allowed to try on a bullet proof vest.  We also saw the executioners block inside the White Tower.

Traitor’s gate is called that because lots of people went through there to be executed.  It was originally built by Edward I.  He lived at the Tower and used the gate to come in by boat from the Thames.  Anne Boleyn (Henry VIII’s 2nd wife) was executed on Tower Green and would have come through the gate which led to the Bloody Tower.  Her cousin, Katherine Howard (Henry VIII’s 5th wife) was executed there too, but was executed using an axe like most people.  Anne Boleyn was beheaded using a French sword.  We went to see where on Tower Green the executions happened, but there is a sculpture there now as a reminder.  Then we went to the Beauchamp Tower that overlooks Tower Green.  There were one hundred carvings that prisoners had scraped into the walls.  They had a nice view of what would happen to them!

At the end of the trip, we saw big crows called ravens.  They had had their wings clipped so they couldn’t fly away.  We also saw Yeoman Warders who are known as Beefeaters because they were once paid in meat.  One of them looks after the ravens.

I hope I go back to the Tower of London one day.