The Tower of London: Is It Worth It? (Yes, But Read This First)

Why It's Worth Visiting

The Tower of London is 1,000 years old and it shows — not as a dusty museum, but as a place where the weight of English history is physically present in the stones. William the Conqueror began building the White Tower in 1078, two years after the Norman Conquest. What he built was a statement: the most powerful fortification in England, a symbol of Norman authority over a resentful Saxon population. The Tower grew around it over the following centuries, becoming a royal palace, a treasury, an armoury, a prison, and a place of execution.

The prisoners alone read like a history of England's most turbulent periods. Anne Boleyn was imprisoned here in 1536 and executed on Tower Green — one of only seven people in history to be beheaded on the Tower's own grounds rather than publicly on Tower Hill outside. Thomas More was imprisoned here before his execution in 1535. Walter Raleigh spent 13 years here. Lady Jane Grey, queen for nine days, was held and executed here at the age of 16 or 17. The two young Princes — Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York — disappeared from the Tower in 1483 in one of history's great unsolved mysteries: almost certainly murdered, almost certainly on the orders of their uncle Richard III, though the evidence remains circumstantial.

The Tower also held the last German spy to be executed in Britain (Josef Jakobs, shot by firing squad in 1941) and Rudolf Hess was briefly imprisoned here after his extraordinary solo flight to Scotland in 1941. The history does not run out. Three hours will give you the surface; historians spend careers on it.

The Crown Jewels

This is the single most important thing to do first — the queue builds through the day, and on a summer afternoon you may wait 30 minutes or more to get in. Go when the Jewel House opens.

The collection is staggering. The Imperial State Crown, worn at the coronation and the State Opening of Parliament, contains 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls, and 4 rubies. The 317-carat Cullinan II diamond is in the centre of the front cross. The Sovereign's Orb, the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross (containing the 530-carat Cullinan I diamond — the largest clear-cut diamond in the world), and the St Edward's Crown (the actual coronation crown, 2.2kg of solid gold, worn at the moment of crowning) are all here.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond, set in Queen Mary's Crown, is worth knowing about before you arrive. The 105-carat stone was surrendered to Queen Victoria in 1849 by the 10-year-old Maharaja of Punjab under the Treaty of Lahore — a surrender that was, to put it mildly, not entirely voluntary. It is currently claimed by India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. The British government's position is that ownership was legitimately acquired and will not be returned.

The Jewel House has a moving walkway that keeps visitors moving at a steady pace. There's a static viewing area to the side of the display cases if you want to spend more time — find it and use it.

Yeoman Warder Tours

The Yeoman Warders — commonly called Beefeaters, though they prefer "Yeoman Warder" — are retired members of the British Armed Forces. The requirements: a minimum of 22 years of exemplary service, a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and the rank of Warrant Officer or above. There are currently 37 Yeoman Warders, all of whom live on-site in the Tower with their families. It's one of the strangest residential postcodes in London.

The tours are free with entry and depart roughly every 30 minutes from inside the main gate (Byward Tower). They last about 60 minutes. The Warders are uniformly excellent — the combination of genuine military bearing and a delivery style honed by years of telling the same stories to varying levels of audience is highly entertaining. The dark humour about beheadings and imprisonment is deployed with precision. Take the first tour of the day if you can; early-morning groups are smaller and the Warder has more time and energy.

The Ravens

There are currently nine ravens at the Tower of London, one more than the official minimum of eight (the old rule was six, but it was updated). The legend — first officially documented in the 1800s, though almost certainly older — states that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, the kingdom will fall. Charles II was the first monarch recorded to have taken the legend seriously enough to order that ravens always be kept at the Tower.

The ravens are officially enlisted soldiers, with the rank of Corporal (or equivalent). They have names and ranks — at time of writing, Jubilee, Harris, Gripp, Rocky, Erin, Poppy, Edgar, Branwen, and Gundulf. They live in a raven enclosure on the Tower Green. The Ravenmaster — currently Chris Skaife — is a Yeoman Warder with a specialist role feeding and caring for the ravens, and is a genuine London institution in his own right (his book, The Ravenmaster, is worth reading).

The ravens are not tame. They have clipped wings (one wing only, which prevents balanced flight) and will steal your food and shout at you. One raven, George, was dismissed from the Tower in the 1980s for eating television aerials. This is true.

The White Tower

The original 1078 Norman keep is the Tower's oldest and most significant structure. It's massive — 27 metres tall, with walls 4.6 metres thick at the base. The Chapel of St John the Evangelist on the second floor is the oldest surviving church interior in London, built around 1080, its Norman arches essentially unchanged.

The main draw for most visitors is the armour collection — the Royal Armouries holds some extraordinary pieces here. Henry VIII's tournament armour from around 1540 is the centrepiece. Two suits are displayed: one from his 20s (waist 35 inches, chest 42 inches, a physically impressive young king) and one from the 1540s (waist 54 inches, chest 58 inches). The physical transformation is visible and startling. The Line of Kings display presents equestrian figures of English monarchs in armour, originally commissioned by Charles II as royal propaganda. The horses are 17th-century wooden sculptures — striking and slightly uncanny.

Practical Information

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 9am–5:30pm (last entry 5pm). Sunday and Monday, 10am–5:30pm. Closed 24–26 December and 1 January.

Prices: Adult £29.90, Child (5–15) £14.90, Under 5 free, Senior £24.70, Family (2 adults, 3 children) from £75.30. Historic Royal Palaces members free.

Getting there: Tower Hill on the Circle and District lines is a 3-minute walk. Fenchurch Street overground is 5 minutes on foot. Alternatively, take a Thames Clipper to Tower Pier — a much better arrival than the Tube if you're coming from the South Bank.

Skip the queue: Buying tickets online is slightly cheaper than on the door and saves you the main ticket queue. However, in summer there can still be a queue to enter security even with a pre-booked ticket. Arrive exactly at opening time to minimise all waits.

What's Nearby

The Tower sits at the eastern end of a stretch of the riverside that's worth exploring either side of your visit. Borough Market is a 10-minute walk west across London Bridge — the obvious lunch option. Tower Bridge is 5 minutes east on foot — the bridge crossing is free, and the views from midpoint are exceptional. Bermondsey Street runs south from London Bridge station: antiques, good independent restaurants (Zucca, Jose, 40 Maltby Street), and a Saturday antiques market (6am–2pm) that's excellent if you're here on the right day.

The new Queenhithe Mosaic (2021) on the riverside path west of the Tower is worth a few minutes — a 27-metre long mosaic illustrating 2,000 years of London history, installed in the medieval dock. Small, often missed, and genuinely beautiful.