Tower of London & Traitors' Gate: Port of the Condemned
Why is it significant?
Stand right here on the stone paving of Tower Wharf, resting your arms on the iron railing looking directly down into the murky water beneath the arched stone portal of Traitors' Gate.
Key Facts
| Place | Tower of London & Traitors' Gate: Port of the Condemned |
|---|---|
| Address | Tower Wharf, London EC3N 4AB |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.50810, -0.07590 |
| Audio Duration | ~1 min |
| Part of Walk | Thames Maritime Secrets: Tower Bridge, Borough Market, and Southwark Taverns |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand right here on the stone paving of Tower Wharf, resting your arms on the iron railing looking directly down into the murky water beneath the arched stone portal of Traitors' Gate. You are standing outside Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, begun by William the Conqueror in ten sixty-six to subjugate the citizens of London. Notice the heavy portcullis teeth hanging over the water entrance: during the Tudor dynasty, prisoners accused of high treason against the Crown were rowed down the Thames from Westminster Hall in covered black barges. As their oars splashed beneath this arch, prisoners knew they had entered a kingdom from which few returned alive. A young Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth the First, stepped out of her barge onto these wet stairs in fifteen fifty-four in the pouring rain, arrested by her half-sister Queen Mary. She famously sat down on the cold wet steps, declaring: Here landeth as true a subject, being prisoner, as ever arrived at these stairs! Look eastward toward the majestic twin neo-Gothic towers of Tower Bridge soaring across the Thames.