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Why it matters
The White Tower was begun around 1078 by William the Conqueror to intimidate a conquered
London, and everything since happened inside these walls: the Princes in the Tower vanishing in
1483 (bones found under a staircase two centuries later), Anne Boleyn beheaded on Tower Green in
1536 by a French swordsman brought over as a mercy, Walter Raleigh's thirteen-year imprisonment, and
the Crown Jewels — not replicas, the working regalia, used at the last coronation, guarded here
ever since a man named Colonel Blood nearly stole them in 1671.
And the ravens: legend says if the six leave, the kingdom falls, so a Yeoman Warder titled the
Ravenmaster keeps seven on staff (one spare). Bonus fact for sibling banter: a former
Ravenmaster went digging and found no trace of the legend before the Victorians — it's a magnificent
fake. Do not tell the ravens.
Book tonight
August timed-entry slots sell out days ahead. Adult £37 at
hrp.org.uk
— book the ~14:00 slot for Thursday. (Afternoon slots outlast mornings, but don't gamble.) One ticket
covers everything inside. The famous nightly
Ceremony of the Keys is already sold out for August —
that's the canonical next-trip booking; it releases monthly and vanishes in minutes.
The optimal afternoon, timed
14:00
Crown Jewels first. The queue tapers mid-afternoon; the moving walkway lets you loop back for a second pass. 45 minutes
15:15
Last Yeoman Warder tour — retired senior soldiers doing polished gallows-humor history for free. Usually the highlight of the whole visit; it just fits your window
16:00
White Tower — the Line of Kings armory (running since 1688, arguably the world's oldest visitor attraction). Henry VIII's armor, before-and-after editions. Stairs; allow 45 min
16:45
Tower Green memorial → Bloody Tower (Raleigh, the princes) → Beauchamp Tower graffiti → ravens → Traitors' Gate
17:30
Buildings close. Exit onto the wharf with Tower Bridge right there
Skippable if squeezed: the full wall walk (do one stretch for the bridge
view), the Medieval Palace, the Fusiliers Museum. Bonus if timing lands: this summer's Tudor
season has costumed street theatre — "Boleyn is Back" runs on the South Lawn to 15:30.
Two ways to love it
The normie's visit
- The Crown Jewels sparkle — 530-carat Cullinan I in the sceptre
- Beefeater jokes about beheadings, delivered deadpan
- Ravens with names (Jubilee, Poppy, Edgar…) and a government job
- Tower Bridge photo ops from the walls and wharf
- The sheer castle-ness of it all
The obsessive's visit
- Beauchamp Tower, upper chamber: the Dudley brothers' carved floral rebus, and "IANE" — likely for Lady Jane Grey, carved by her husband's family
- Henry VIII's 1515 slim armor vs the 1540 edition — the most honest portrait of the man in existence
- St Peter ad Vincula, where Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Jane Grey and Thomas More actually lie
- Menagerie lore: Henry III's polar bear fished the Thames on a chain; the animals became London Zoo's founding stock — wire sculptures mark the spots
After, ~17:30
St Katharine Docks, five minutes east: a pretty marina that instantly escapes the tourist
crush, with The Dickens Inn — a galleried 18th-century timber warehouse — as the obvious pint.
Or walk Tower Bridge southbound (crossing is free) and follow the river west past HMS Belfast toward
the Shard. Note: Borough Market's stalls close at 5 on Thursdays, so it's a lunch-before move, not a
follow-on. Getting home: Tower Hill station (District/Circle), or an Uber Boat from Tower Pier if a
Thames ride home sounds better than a train — it does.
Sources: Historic Royal Palaces ·
Ceremony of the Keys ·
Atlas Obscura: Beauchamp Tower ·
Historic UK: the ravens
· prices/times verified across multiple guides; double-check tour times on hrp.org.uk when booking.