We went to breakfast earlier than usual so that we could catch a train to London. When we arrived at Windsor and Eton Riverside station, we had to wait several minutes whilst the ticket office assistant was on the telephone. When she had finished her call she informed that there was a reduced service during the summer months and this was advertised on the platform. At this stage we hadn’t got as far as the platform! We were further told us that the next train wouldn’t be for 45 minutes. We decided not to wait and walked to Windsor’s other station, Windsor and Eton Central, where there would be more options. We purchased our tickets which included the London Underground and as soon as we got onto on the platform a train arrived.

We arrived in London next to Tower Hill and the Tower of London without any delays. I purchased a Historic Royal Palaces season ticket for Mr C’s birthday present. We planned to visit Hampton Palace later during our stay so this option provided good value for money. Scaffolding was surrounding the main entrance to the Tower of London so visitors were directed to a temporary entrance.

Once inside the Tower, we walked round the outside of the White Tower to see the ceramic poppy display that had, once again, been installed at the Tower. On this occasion the poppies on display mark 80 years since VE day and the end of the Second World War.

At one stage the Tower’s resident squirrel scuttled through the poppies right to my feet probably expecting a tasty snack. He left disappointed, he needs to see the Yeoman Warders for those. Speaking of Yeoman Warders, we made our way from the poppies to the meeting point for a Yeoman Warder talk. Our guide tuned out to be John, the Yeoman Gaoler.  The talk was excellent, bringing the Tower and its history to life. One part of the tour wasn’t possible, The Church of St Peter ad Vincula, which was cordoned off for restoration and repairs.

Next we had some lunch in the busy café where we were lucky enough to find a seat. We left the café to find that there was no longer a queue to visit the Crown Jewels so we took the opportunity to see them next as they are always worth a visit. When we had finished in the Jewel House we found that there was no queue to enter the White Tower which is home to the Royal Armouries so we went in.

It was an unexpected bonus be able to do both, we had thought the queues to get in would be too long and we would only have time to visit one of them. As we were leaving the White Tower, I purchased a couple of books about the Tower of London and a book about the Crown Jewels. It was now time to catch the train back to Windsor. The trains ran smoothly and we arrived back in Windsor at 6pm. We were able to book a table in the Giggling Squid for later in the evening after we had freshened up after our days adventure. The food and service were excellent and we got chatting to a couple of ladies on a nearby table. We returning to the George Inn for a nightcap before turning in for the night.

In summer 2022, to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, the moat transformed from a barren, flat lawn into a haven for bees, butterflies and other pollinators in the heart of the city. The moat was filled with wildflowers, grown from 20 million seeds.

But Superbloom was not just a spectacle for 2022. It was the first year of a permanent transformation of the Tower Moat into a beautiful naturalistic landscape.

Tower Bridge (built 1886–1894) is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and has become an iconic symbol of London.

The bridge consists of two bridge towers tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower.

History:

A huge challenge faced the City of London Corporation – how to build a bridge downstream from London Bridge without disrupting river traffic activities. To generate ideas, the “Special Bridge or Subway Committee” was formed in 1876, and opened the design for the new crossing to public competition.

Over 50 designs were submitted for consideration, some of which are on display at Tower Bridge Exhibition. It wasn’t until October 1884 however, that Horace Jones, the City Architect, in collaboration with John Wolfe Barry, offered the chosen design for Tower Bridge as a solution.

It took eight years, five major contractors and the relentless labour of 432 construction workers to build Tower Bridge.

Two massive piers were sunk into the river bed to support the construction and over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the Towers and Walkways. This framework was clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone to protect the underlying steelwork and to give the Bridge a more pleasing appearance.

When it was built, Tower Bridge was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever completed (“bascule” comes from the French for “see-saw”). These bascules were operated by hydraulics, using steam to power the enormous pumping engines. The energy created was stored in six massive accumulators, as soon as power was required to lift the Bridge, it was always readily available. The accumulators fed the driving engines, which drove the bascules up and down. Despite the complexity of the system, the bascules only took about a minute to raise to their maximum angle of 86 degrees.

Today, the bascules are still operated by hydraulic power, but since 1976 they have been driven by oil and electricity rather than steam. The original pumping engines, accumulators and boilers are now exhibits within Tower Bridge Exhibition’s Engine Rooms.

noun

1: a large body of matter with no definite shape.

“the sun broke out from behind a mass of clouds”

synonyms:
pile, heap, stack, clump, cloud, bunch, bundle, lump

2: a large number of people or objects crowded together.

“a mass of cyclists”

synonyms:
large number, abundance, profusion, multitude, group, crowd, mob,rabble, horde,

barrage, throng, huddle, host, troop, army, herd, flock,drove, swarm, pack, press,

crush, mountain, flood

“a mass of cyclists”

adjective

1: involving or affecting large numbers of people or things.

“the film has mass appeal”

synonyms:

wholesale, universal, widespread, general, large-scale, extensive, pandemic

“mass hysteria”

verb

1: assemble or cause to assemble into a single body or mass.

“both countries began massing troops in the region”

synonyms:

accumulate, assemble, amass, collect, gather, gather together, draw together, join together

From The Royal Armouries website:

A tradition of displaying British military strength by creating trophies from masses of weapons has long existed at the Tower. From about 1700 visitors to the Grand Storehouse were stopped in their tracks by John Harris’s stunning displays and models, including a serpent and a seven-headed hydra, which he created from a variety of weapons including muskets, pistols and swords.

A sight ‘no one ever beheld without Astonishment…
not to be matched perhaps in the world’.
William Maitland, 18th century antiquarian

Royal Armouries Head of Creative Programmes, Karen Whitting dreamed up the idea for the mighty beast, inspired by the small figures of a dragon and a hydra in the scale model of the Grand Storehouse. Working with the creative team at Haley Sharpe Design a concept drawing was produced which York-based Paragon Creative have brought wonderfully to life.

Building on the tradition of trophies of arms and armour created at the Tower of London from the late 17th century, this new dragon has been constructed using objects and materials that represent ten institutions which were housed in the Tower.

Institutions

Ordnance Office – armour, swords, firearms and cannon to create the head, back and body, including 22 antique pistols, four swords, four rifles, two bronze cannon and 20 bayonets.

Menagerie – a cage for the ribcage

Prison – 30m of chain to create the tail

The Royal Mint – 2,000 gold and silver coins, representing the dragon’s fire plus 50 replica trial plates

Royal Observatory – 26 telescopes

Ordnance Survey – maps for wings

Record Office – scrolls for legs

Jewel House – 400 glass rubies

Constables – keys hanging around the neck

Royal Armouries – 8 breastplates, 6 muskets, 15 pollaxes, 10 mail shirts, 4 shields and bucklers

Our dragon is fittingly named Keeper, following a naming competition run in association with TV channel History™.

No of items used in total

Over 2,672 items including:

• 8 breastplates
• 6 muskets
• 22 antique pistols
• 40 shields and bucklers
• 4 swords
• 4 pairs of pauldrons
• 4 pairs of gauntlets
• 4 bronze mortars
• 8 kettle helmets
• 4 Enfield rifles
• 2 bronze canons
• 20 bayonets
• 15 pollaxes
• 10 mail vests
• 4 horse shaffrons
• 26 telescopes
• 2,000 gold and silver coins
• 30m of chain
• 400 ‘rubies’
• 1 replica Henry VIII necklace
• 50 replica trial plates

1 set of keys

This gun, which weighs 5 ¾ tons, was probably made in the Low Countries in 1607, commissioned by the Knights of Malta. It is richly decorated with a variety of images representing the Order’s religious and humanitarian role. It was brought to England around 1800 and lay at the Royal Arsenal in Woolrich until 1962, when it was transferred to the Tower.

John Hall of Dartford, Kent, made the carriage for the gun in 1827 on the orders of the Duke of Wellington, Master General of the Ordnance. It shows the Arms of Malta and scenes from the history of the island. The breech of the gun rests on an iron quoin in the shape of a Maltese dog.

…

John Gerard (1564–1637) was an English Jesuit priest, operating covertly in England during the Elizabethan period in which the Catholic Church was subject to persecution.

John is noted not only for successfully hiding from the English authorities for eight years before his capture, but for enduring extensive torture, escaping from the Tower of London and, after recovering, continuing with his covert mission. After his escape to the continent, he was later instructed by his Jesuit superiors to write a book about his life (Latin text).^[2] An English translation was published in 1951.

Gerard was finally captured in London on 23 April 1594, together with Nicholas Owen. He was tried, found guilty and sent to the Counter in the Poultry. Later he was moved to the Clinkprison where he was able to meet regularly with other persecuted English Catholics. Due to his continuation of this work, he was sent to the Salt Tower in the Tower of London, where he was further questioned and tortured by being repeatedly suspended from chains on the dungeon wall. The main aim of Gerard’s torturers was to identify the London lodgings of Fr. Henry Garnet that they might arrest him. He would not answer any questions that involved others, or name them. He insisted that he never broke, a fact borne out by the files of the Tower.

Henry Garnet wrote about Gerard:

“Twice he has been hung up by the hands with great cruelty on the part of others and no less patience on his own. The examiners say he is exceedingly obstinate and a great friend either of God or of the devil, for they say they cannot extract a word from his lips, save that, amidst his torments, he speaks the word, ‘Jesus’. Recently they took him to the rack, where the torturers and examiners stood ready for work. But when he entered the place, he at once threw himself on his knees and with a loud voice prayed to God that … he would give him strength and courage to be rent to pieces before he might speak a word that would be injurious to any person or to the divine glory. And seeing him so resolved, they did not torture him.”^[4]

A famous exploit of his is believed to have been masterminded by Saint Nicholas Owen. With help from other members of the Catholic underground, Gerard, along with John Arden, escaped on a rope strung across the Tower moat during the night of 4 October 1597. Despite the fact that his hands were still mangled from the tortures he had undergone, he succeeded in climbing down. He even arranged for the escape of his gaoler (jailer), with whom he had become friendly, and who he knew would be held responsible for the jailbreak. Immediately following his escape, he joined Henry Garnet and Robert Catesby in Uxbridge. Later, Gerard moved to the house of Dowager Elizabeth Vaux^[1] at Harrowden. From this base of operations, he continued his priestly ministry, and reconciled many to the Catholic Church, including Sir Everard Digby (one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot). He later suspected Digby of plotting something, but did not act, thus allowing the plan to proceed undetected. When the plot was discovered, Gerard was a very wanted man due to his links to those involved.

He was incorrectly implicated by Robert Catesby’s servant Thomas Bates. Staying a while at Harrowden, then escaping from there to London, he left the country with financial aid from Elizabeth Vaux, slipping away disguised as a footman in the train of the Spanish Ambassador^[5] on the very day of Henry Garnet’s execution. Gerard went on to continue the work of the Jesuits in Europe, where he wrote his autobiography on the orders of his superiors. He died in 1637, aged 73, at the English College seminary, Rome.

I have returned safely from The Tower! This years London trip ran a lot more smoothly that last years trip to London. On arrival we headed straight to the Tower of London. On the advice of the Tower of London website we avoiding using Tower Hill tube station, this meant we had a 10 minute walk from the tube station to The Tower. We picked up our prepaid tickets and admired the poppies in the moat whilst making our way to the drawbridge entry to to The Tower.

When we got inside we walked on the walls, looking out over London and glimpsing poppies through some of the windows. After the walk we took a break for lunch before continuing our tour of things that The Tower of London has to offer.  We gave the Crown Jewels a miss, the queue was extremely long due to increased visitors there for remembrance weekend and to see the poppies in the moat. We did join the shorter faster moving queue to visit the White Tower which is the oldest part of the Tower. It houses the Royal Armories collection.

After our visit to The Tower we continued walking around the moat so we could see more of the poppies in the moat. It was fascinating to see how much the poppy installation had grown since our visit in August. Due to the sheer numbers of people it took us quite a while to make our way around the moat. We got to one of the corners at the front of  The Tower as dusk turned this meant that we were able to witness the Roll of Honour being read. This was followed by a trumpeter playing The Last Post which is always moving to hear.

As the crowds slowly started to disperse we made our way to the other corner at the front of The Tower to see the wave of poppies cascading over the side of the drawbridge. Just as we arrived the heavens opened, it was just like someone had turned on a tap!!. We beat a hasty retreat and made our way towards the tube station whilst trying to locate a cab. We had no luck with a cab due to the sheer numbers of people. On the way back to the tube we experienced rivers of water flowing across the footpaths as the gutters deposited water to the downspouts. Water was also cascading down the steps in the underpasses. By the time we got to the tube station we were absolutely drenched.

We set off on our journey back to Marble Arch where the coach had dropped us off. The journey was beset with delays. At one point we queued inside the underground for thirty minutes before we could get onto the platform. At one point I felt most uncomfortable, there was a mass of people with no exit in site if something should suddenly go wrong. Of course nothing went wrong and every few minutes the crowd surged forward as people got on the tube that had arrived at the platform and more people surged to fill the gap they had left on the platform. We eventually got back to Marble Arch, grabbing as sandwich to eat on the coach as we made our way to the pick up point.  We arrived with moments to spare. A few others were late due to them experiencing similar transport problems. The coach was also a little late due to roads being congested. The coach slowly made its way out of London but as someone pointed out, it was not as slow as it was on last years trip.

The driver of the coach we travelled on last year informed us that it spent six weeks in the Volvo garage where it was found that two pistons had broken through the engine block at a cost of £24.000 to replace!!  OUCH!!

The art installation entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ is currently being planted in the moat around The Tower of London, the last poppy will be planted on the 11th November.

marking one hundred years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the First World War. Created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper, 888,246 ceramic poppies will progressively fill the Tower’s famous moat over the summer. Each poppy represents a British military fatality during the war.

The poppies will encircle the iconic landmark, creating not only a spectacular display visible from all around the Tower but also a location for personal reflection. The scale of the installation intends to reflect the magnitude of such an important centenary creating a powerful visual commemoration.

On my visit in mid August despite not being complete the artwork was stunning! Standing above the field of growing poppies I was able to see volunteers planting poppies under the watchful eye of Yeoman Warder Bill Callaghan.

I plan to return to see the almost complete installation a few days before the last poppy is planted.

• A gallery of photos that I took when I visited The Poppies in the Moat can be viewed here.