ENGLAND TRIP Day 4: Part 11: Tower of London: How was it Used?/ Bloody Tower

Bloody Tower. Credit: Larae.net

Here's some interesting background on the Tower of London, and a story about Sir Walter Raleigh's ghost that supposedly haunts one room there.

DIFFERENT USES OF THE TOWER OF LONDON: The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public records office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

A STARTING POINT OF ROYAL CORONATIONS:  From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II, a procession would be led from the Tower to Westminster Abbey on the coronation of a monarch.

UNDER THE TUDOR FAMILY (Henry VIII's lineage): The Tower became used less as a royal residence, and despite attempts to refortify and repair the castle its defenses lagged behind developments to deal with artillery.

Sir Walter Raleigh's "prison" room, nicely furnished

*****************************************

THE BLOODY TOWER AT THE TOWER OF LONDON
*****************************************


SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S PRISON: 
In the 1580's, Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to bring colonies to what would eventually become America. They landed at a small island called Roanoke Island in Virginia. He was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularizing tobacco in England.
WHY IMPRISONED IN THE TOWER? 

He was considered to be connected with a plot against King James the First. The King didn't care for Sir Walter Raleigh, and when Queen Elizabeth the first died in the early 1600s, he placed (for the 2nd time)  in the Tower of London. Thirteen years later he was released and went to South America. When he returned, he was arrested and jailed in the tower.  His "rooms" are still furnished as they were in the 16th century, and can be seen when visiting the Tower today. He was executed by James I, and has been seen looking exactly as he does in his portrait hanging in the Bloody Tower. Many think ghosts will remain in a place that has great importance from their lives, thus Walter remains here because he was put in the Tower twice.

KIDNAPPED PRINCES AND THEIR GHOSTS AT THE BLOODY TOWER: 

Two princes; Edward V (who was 12) and Richard Duke of York (who was 10) were kidnapped and were thought murdered in 1483 - likely by command of the Duke of Gloucestershire, who was to be crowned Richard the III.
   In the late 15th century some guards near the Bloody Tower saw shadows of two small children moving down the stairs,  wearing white night shirts  (that  they had on the night they disappeared). The two children then disappeared in the wall of the Bloody Tower.  -These children were the ghosts of the murdered young princes.
  In 1674, workmen found a chest containing two skeletons of young children (thought the remains of the princes).

TOWER LATER IN HISTORY:  In the latter half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. Anthony Salvin and John Taylor took the opportunity to restore the Tower to what was felt to be its medieval appearance, clearing out many of the vacant post-medieval structures. In the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison, and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage. After the Second World War, damage caused during the Blitz was repaired and the castle reopened to the public.