Finsatsea: London – The Tower of London and the Churchill War rooms with afternoon tea thrown in

After a good night’s sleep we awoke to what looked like a drizzly day. On our agenda were the Tower and the Churchill War Rooms for which I had bought tickets online. Just a note, I wasn’t sure when I bought them if we could qualify for Senior citizen tickets since we were not UK residents, so I purchased regular ones. It turns out we are eligible and I’ll remember that in the future.

Anyway, after breakfast we were off on the Underground to the Tower. Another aside, we love the “tube.” It’s easy to use and a great people-watching place. When we arrived at Tower Hill it was misting, but that stopped quickly. Eventually as the day progressed the sun broke out and it was quite lovely. We decided to take a tour with one of the “Beefeaters” and it was great that we did.

Our guide was Yeoman Warder (that’s their official title) Jim Duncan and he was a very engaging fellow. Lots of people have been to the Tower and know much about the jewels, regalia and history of the place, but today we also learned a little about the Warders. There are 37 of them and they must all be veterans of the British military who have served at least 22 years. Our Mr. Duncan had 40 years in the service including time in the infantry. We guessed that no one messed with him when he was serving there. The Yeoman Warders are the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London and members of the Sovereign’s bodyguard. Hence their red uniform bears the initials of the monarch on their chest (now E II R for Elizabeth II Regina). They were formed in the 15^th century by the first Tudor king, Henry VII, so their badges still bear a Tudor rose.

Yeoman Warder Duncan

The Tower is a fortress built originally by William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. On that site though evidence has been found dating back to the Roman era. The Tower has been a fortress, a royal residence and a prison. One of its towers is the place where the two little princes, sons of Edward IV, were held and disappeared, many think at the hands of their uncle Richard III. Through the water gate from the Thames, now known as the Traitors Gate, many famous captives came to the Tower and many of those didn’t leave alive. Among them were two of Henry VIII’s queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. I learned today that most of those executed were not actually killed in the Tower itself. Most were taken outside the walls and up Tower Hill to the public execution site. Only the privileged few were allowed a more private execution.

Traitor's gate through which many prisoners arrived never to leave again

The Tower is the repository of the Crown jewels, including the largest cut white diamond in the world, the coronation regalia, and a collection of weapons that will amaze anyone interested in the history of warfare. It’s also the home to some of the Yeoman Warders and their families with about 120 residents.

The White Tower, the central keep of the Castle, built by William the Conqueror

Just one more tidbit we found interesting. During WWII, the second highest ranking Nazi, Rudolph Hess, who was captured in Scotland in 1941 on what he hoped would be a peace mission, was held prisoner at the Tower for 9 nine days. He was then moved to the countryside somewhere to be held safe from the blitz. After the war, he was tried as a war criminal at Nuremburg, found guilty, and imprisoned for the rest of his life in Spandau prison in Berlin. What does this have to do with anything? Our guide Yeoman Duncan was one of those who guarded Hess in that prison before his death in 1987. We found that fascinating.

Well, we looked for the ravens at the Tower of London and they were scarce because of the weather. Al caught a glimpse of one but couldn’t get a photo. There are seven of them and legend has it that if the ravens fly from the Tower of London, the monarchy and the kingdom will be lost. Ravens or not, we enjoyed our visit there and we see that we could have spent an entire day seeing all there is to see.

Our next stop was the Churchill War Rooms museum. These are the underground rooms very close to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament that were a British command center during WWII. The rooms were used from the outbreak of war in 1939 until VJ Day in August, 1945, when they were abandoned. At some point people realized the significance of the complex and they have been restored to precisely the state they were in during the war. It was interesting to see the cramped quarters in which some of the staff lived for days on end below ground and without knowing what was above them as London went through the bombing blitz. There was a board posted to tell people there what day it was and what the weather was because they were apt to lose track of those things. It was there I thought we might see an Enigma machine, the device used to break the German codes, but we didn’t. Instead we saw the then super secret transatlantic phone room. Only a few people knew that there was a phone line connecting London with Washington. The door to the room was disguised as the entrance to what the staff thought was the only flushing toilet in the bunker accessible only to Churchill and other top staff. It was instead the room from which the Prime Minister held some phone conversations with Franklin Roosevelt.

Churchill's bedroom in the complex

After getting our fill of history (and telling you more than you ever wanted to know), we decided it was time for a traditional English tea. So off we went and enjoyed delightful scones, luscious pastries and some wonderful finger sandwiches accompanied by tea, not from a bag, but actually brewed. It was a wonderful way to conclude our day of sightseeing before heading back to the hotel.