Charles II eventually arranged for their reburial in Westminster Abbey. They lie there still, with a brief interruption in when a re-examination provided compelling evidence that they were the two princes. The Tudor period witnessed more victims of royal wrath than any other. This was the era in which a staggering number of high profile statesmen, churchmen and even queens went to the block. Cromwell had them all rounded up and the queen herself was arrested on 2 May She was taken by barge to the tower, stoutly protesting her innocence all the way, and incarcerated in the same apartments that had been refurbished for her coronation in Anne watched as her five alleged lovers were led to their deaths on Tower Hill on 17 May.
Two days later she was taken from her apartments to the scaffold. After a dignified speech she knelt in the straw and closed her eyes to pray. With a clean strike, the executioner severed her head from her body. His triumph would be short-lived. Four years later he was arrested on charges of treason by the captain of the royal guard and conveyed by barge to the tower.
He may have been housed in the same lodgings that Anne had been kept in before her execution. The death of Elizabeth I in signalled the end of the Tudor dynasty, but the Tower of London retained its reputation as a place of imprisonment and terror. It was only thanks to an anonymous letter to the authorities that the king and his Protestant regime were not wiped out. The House of Lords was searched at around midnight on 4 November, just hours before the plot was due to be executed, and Guy Fawkes was discovered with 36 barrels of gunpowder — more than enough to reduce the entire building to rubble.
Listen: Hannah Greig and John Cooper explore the story of the attempt to blow up the king and parliament, on this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast :. Fawkes was taken straight to the tower, along with his fellow plotters.
Fawkes eventually confessed, after suffering the agony of the rack — a torture device consisting of a frame suspended above the ground with a roller at both ends. But upon the restoration of the monarchy in , Charles II commissioned a dazzling suite of new jewels that have been used by the royal family ever since.
They are now the most popular attraction within the tower. Criterion iv : The White Tower is the example par excellence of the royal Norman castle from the late 11th century.
The ensemble of the Tower of London is a major reference for the history of medieval military architecture. All the key Norman and later buildings, surrounded by their defensive wall and moat, are within the property boundary. There are few threats to the property itself, but the areas immediately beyond the moat and the wider setting of the Tower, an ensemble that was created to dominate its surroundings, have been eroded.
Some of these have, to a degree, had an adverse impact on the views into, within and out of the property. Such development could limit the ability to perceive the Tower as being slightly apart from the City, or have an adverse impact on its skyline as viewed from the river.
The role of the White Tower as a symbol of Norman power is evident in its massive masonry. It remains, with limited later change, as both an outstanding example of innovative Norman architecture and the most complete survival of a late 11th century fortress palace in Europe.
Much of the work of Henry III and Edward I, whose additions made the Tower into a model example of a concentric medieval fortress in the 13th and early 14th centuries, survives. The Tower is no longer in use as a fortress, but its fabric still clearly tells the story of the use and function of the monument over the centuries.
The fabric also continues to demonstrate the traditions and techniques that were involved in its construction. The ability of the Tower to reflect its strategic siting and historic relationship to the City of London is vulnerable to proposals for development that do not respect its context and setting.
The property is protected as a scheduled ancient monument and buildings within it are protected as statutorily listed buildings. Policies to protect, promote, conserve and enhance World Heritage properties, their settings and buffer zones are also found in statutory planning documents. It contains policies to protect and enhance the historic environment in general and World Heritage properties in particular.
The London View Management Framework Supplementary Planning Guidance published by the Mayor protects important designated views, including a protected view of the Tower of London from the south bank of the River Thames.
Each of these local planning authorities has an emerging Local Development Plan, which provide a framework of policies to protect and promote the Tower of London World Heritage property. Its implementation is integrated into the activities of Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity responsible for caring for the Tower of London. The Tower of London World Heritage Site Consultative Committee, a group consisting of on-site partners, local authorities and heritage specialists, monitors implementation and review of the plan and provides a forum for consultation on issues affecting the Tower of London and its environs.
The most significant challenges to the property lie in managing the environs of the Tower of London so as to protect its Outstanding Universal Value and setting. These documents set out a strategic framework of policies aimed at conserving, protecting and enhancing the Outstanding Universal Value of the Tower and its setting.
The challenges are also identified in the World Heritage Site Management Plan, which defines the local setting of the Tower and key views within and from it. Discussions take place as part of the Management Plan review regarding how best to ensure continued protection of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property and its setting. Other challenges include pressures on funding. However, Historic Royal Palaces has put in place robust measures to ensure that the Tower of London is properly protected, interpreted and conserved in accordance with its key charitable objectives.
These measures include long-term conservation plans, prioritised and funded according to conservation needs, and cyclical maintenance plans. All plans are regularly monitored and reviewed. About us. Special themes. Charles II is said to have been the first monarch to insist that the ravens be protected. He did so despite the protests of royal astronomer John Flamsteed, who complained that the ravens kept leaving droppings on his telescope. According to legend, this led Charles to move the Royal Observatory to Greenwich.
While the tower was first built as a fortress, its usefulness as a bastion faded as gunpowder-based siege engines such as cannons became widely adopted in Europe. Porter notes that new gun platforms were erected on it in the s, and Parnell writes that as late as the s, when the United Kingdom feared invasion by France, heavy guns were positioned near the Tower to help defend London.
Porter writes that a grand storehouse, started in and completed when William and Mary were on the British throne , was built to house weapons and ammunition.
The tower had other attractions that drew non-military visitors to it. For instance, the royal menagerie, in essence an early zoo, had a wide range of animals until it was closed in , including lions, an ostrich and even a polar bear.
These animals were given as gifts to various monarchs. Porter writes that James I was particularly fond of his lions. This menagerie would be removed from the tower and incorporated into an off-site zoo in , but by then there were other things to attract tourists. Today, the Tower of London is one of the most famous castles in the world and is now a World Heritage Site attracting more than 2 million visitors a year.
The main threat to the site today is not rebels, foreign armies or falling bombs bomb damage happened during World War II but rather the exhaust of cars. Live Science. Owen Jarus.
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