Photo Archive: “Ravens May Bite!” Tower of London, London, c.2007.

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Astronomer Royal, astronomy, foreign languages, John Flamstead, King Charles II, legends, London, ravens, Royal Observatory Greenwich, signs, Tower of London, translations, warning signs

To quote from my  trusty Ladybird book, “Discovering The Tower of London“, “The ravens are certainly the most important residence of the Tower of London, for – as the story goes – if they ever leave, the Tower will fall and England with it. As soon as the castle was built ravens must have flown in to feed off the rubbish from the kitchen and there may have been some at the Tower ever since“.

The Tower raven’s accommodation.

My souvenir guidebook from the Tower goes further and insists that the ideal number of ravens resident within the fortress is six, thanks to King Charles II. “The King’s Astronomical Observator” or the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamstead, then based at the Tower, appealed to the King to have the ravens, who were taking over the place by this point, removed completely from the fortress; presumably because they were getting in the way of his telescope. King Charles II, understandably weary of doing anything that might course the kingdom to fall, insisted that at least six ravens be present at all times, but the rest could be cleared out. He also gave Flamstead a warrant to set up an observatory in Greenwich, so his telescope would be well out of the way, founding what would become the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, what would become the home of the Greenwich meridian and Greenwich mean time. I wonder if Flamstead had stayed on at the Tower, despite the ravens, we would have ended up with a Tower Hill meridian and Tower Hill mean time?

Photo Archive: The Martin Tower, The Tower of London, London, c.2007.

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Castle, Colonel Thomas Blood, Crown Jewels, Fortifications, King Charles II, London, Martin Tower, Royal Regalia, tower, Tower of London

Viewed from the queue to see the Crown Jewels.

According to my trusty Ladybird book, “Discovering The Tower of London“, the Martin Tower housed the Crown Jewels during the reign of King Charles II and that this was the place where “adventurer” and self-styled “Colonel“, Thomas Blood attempted to steal the royal regalia. In those days you could pay for a private viewing of the Crown Jewels and after winning the trust of Jewel Keeper Talbot Edwards, Blood knocked him unconscious and a run for it. Colonel Blood was captured, after an affray in which one of the sentries on duty was shot, but bizarrely, after an audience with King Charles II, Blood was let off! There are many stories wrapped up in the history of the Tower of London, but the tale of Colonel Blood and his mysterious pardon has to be one of my favourites.

“Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”, Tower of London, 24/08/14.

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art installation, Blood Swept Land and Seas of Red, charity, Coming Home, Confederation of Service Charities, Help for Heroes, London, Military Charities, Paul Cummins, Poppies, Royal British Legion, SSAFA, Tom Piper, Tower of London

When planning a journey that involves travelling through London, between King’s Cross and Waterloo railway stations to be precise, I like to leave enough time to see something new in the Capital before moving on. On this occasion I dragged my heavy bag onto the Circle Line and then across Tower Hill to see “Blood Swept Lands and Sea of Red”, an art installation involving the planting of 800,000 ceramic poppies in the dry moat of the Tower of London. 

The Royal British Legion’s website informs me that you can commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War by purchasing one of the ceramic poppies, the iconic symbol of remembrance, which form the installation. To quote the website: “The ceramic poppies are available to buy for £25 each and the net proceeds, hoped to be in excess of £15 million if all poppies are sold, will be shared equally amongst a group of carefully selected Service charities including the Legion”. Other charities that will benefit from the donations include the Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO), Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help for Heroes and SSAFA (formerly the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association).

The Tower of London’s own website gives you a lot more information regarding Paul Cummins, the ceramic artist behind the creation of the poppies, and Tom Piper, who is responsible for the dramatic installation of the poppies. 

What the articles about the installation do not prepare you for is the amount of people, lining the railings around the Tower’s outer defences, taking in this extraordinary spectacle. The Tower of London is a popular attraction at the best of times, but I must have been joined by more than a thousand people watching the installation evolve before their eyes, due to the efforts of the volunteers planting the ceramic poppies by hand. 

Here are some more photographs I took on Sunday, but because the installation is evolving on a daily basis, these photographs are already out of date, so I would encourage you to go and see it for yourself, if you have the opportunity: 

 

Photo Archive: Tower of London c.2007.

Tags

historical re-enactment group, historical re-enactment., London, medieval, Tower of London

I rediscovered this photograph of a Medieval historical re-enactment group in a file from 2008 and remember the circumstances, albeit not the exact details of the re-enactment, because I have only visited the Tower of London once, despite being a regular visitor to London:

Very chivalrous, although, a sketch of the re-enactment in one of my old sketch books shows a much more violent part of the proceedings:

 

The drawing is dated August 2007, so I must have copied it from a photograph I subsequently deleted or have hidden in some yet to be rediscovered album. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find any further information relating to the re-enactment in front of the famous White Tower, so we’ll just have to use our imaginations.