Liberty Lyceum Travel

Years ago Neil and I visited the Tower of London and enjoyed it. The thing we remembered most was Henry VIII’s armor. The man had a really fine opinion of his parts that needed protecting. We wanted to take Miss C to see the Tower, not just for that impressive sight but for all its amazing history.

The blue line shows part of the path of the old Roman city wall; the red outline shows the Tower of London. The city has always been closely tied to the Thames River.

We started our tour by arriving at the Tower Hill underground (tube) station, a most appropriate place to begin. There, just outside the station, is a remnant of the Roman wall that surrounded the city of Londinium, which was to later expand beyond those walls and become the London of today. The Tower of London, actually a complex of towers and other buildings, was built right into that Roman wall by William the Conqueror starting in 1075. Both wall and Tower have been amended ever since. In the mid-nineteenth century, most of the remaining Roman wall was torn down, but these parts near and within the Tower of London remain, and there are other remnants near the Museum of London (post still to come about that).

A Yeoman Warder at the Tower

Londinium (and then London) grew up around the Thames River, which opens to the English Channel and allowed ocean-going ships to come up the river to its wharves and docks. The Roman city was built right up to the Thames for reasons of transportation and supply, and the Tower of London was later built there too for the same reasons as well as defense.

The Tower later became infamous especially during the time of the Tudors (Henry VIII and his offspring, especially Elizabeth I) for holding political prisoners and for its executions. Henry had Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn executed here, and there were many others. But in its early history it was a royal palace. In recent centuries it was a royal armoury. It still has other official functions, but today it is mostly a tourist site, and a very interesting one at that.

Our photos tell the story. We started north of the Tower at the train station; walked into and all around the Tower complex; looked across the river at the modern glass-and-steel buildings; walked along the riverfront outside the Tower, looking ahead to the Victorian Tower Bridge; crossed the Tower Bridge; walked along the Queen’s Walk on the south side of the river (the area called “Southwark,” pronounced “Suthark”); and marveled at the new city hall and other modern buildings in the area called “London Riverside” before finding dinner in the area and heading back to our apartment from the London Bridge tube station.

Not many cities do such a nice job with their riverfronts. Rome’s Tiber River is a real disappointment, for example. Apparently the Italians are just focused on their piazzas and fountains and don’t see the potential of the space along the river. Chicago comes to mind as the best example I can think of for riverfront beauty besides London. But London really loves the Thames, and it shows. Please see our photos — I’d recommend choosing the slideshow (top left) and setting it to 5 seconds per slide.