Lion, Middle and Byward Towers...Day 5n

Throughout its history the Tower was home not only to royal families and unfortunate prisoners but also prisoners of the animal variety. The Royal Menagerie included such animals as lions, leopards, mastiffs, tigers, elephants, monkeys and a Polar bear.  Oftentimes the King of England would be given exotic animals and rather than risk offending the giver, the animals wound up in the menagerie at the Tower. This occurred from the 1300's until the 1800's.  Each animal or animal family, had its own cage and there was a communal exercise yard as well. During the Elizabethan era, the Royal Menagerie was opened to the public and curious subjects could pay an admission fee and view the animals.  By the 1700's, three half-pence was the price to get in, unless one brought a dog or cat to be fed to the lions, in which case the admission fee was waived. 

Throughout the Tower of London complex, various wire-framed animals were strategically placed apparently to remind us of the Royal Menagerie and all that we were missing out on by living in the 21st century.

The animals were housed in, what else, the Lion Tower which is no longer standing but the ruins of which can still be seen.

The Middle Tower was a gatehouse of the Tower of London during the late 1200's. There was a portcullis and a drawbridge over a moat.

                                                      Middle Tower (on the right)

                                                 the two turrets of the Middle Tower

This beautiful piece of art on the Middle Tower is a representation of the Royal Coat of  Arms of King George I. The lion is the symbol of England and the unicorn is the symbol of Scotland. (please, please, please don't ask about the symbol of Ireland and why it is not included on King George's coat of arms) (thank you, I knew you would be understanding about the limitations of my time and interests)


 There was another drawbridge linking the Middle tower to Byward Tower, offering that little extra bit of protection for the Tower.

Byward Tower served as as another line of defense to protect the central palace and other buildings. In order to deter would-be invaders there was a drawbridge which could. of course, be raised and lowered, and not one but two portcullises (portcullisi?)  Arrow loops, narrow vertical windows through which arrows might be shot, were built into the tower walls. You can see them on the side of the tower.


It is thought the tower got its name because of its location near the Warders Hall.  By Ward (Hall)   get it?





  

Apparently, there is a magnificent painting on one of the walls in the Byward Tower. I say apparently because sadly, it is not accessible to the general public. It is said to be the only surviving medieval interior (circa 1309) in the entire Tower of London. No expense was spared as the artist employed gold leaf, azurite, vermilion and lac in his representation of the Crucifixion of Christ.(I know what gold leaf is but I had to research a bit to find out about the other pigments. Azurite is a deep blue pigment, made from finely ground copper crystal, vermilion is a brilliant scarlet obtained from the gem cinnabar and lac is a shellac made from the secretion of the lac insect which is native to southern Asia. I was pretty excited about all this until I found out what "lac" was...)

These days the rooms in the Byward Tower are offices for the Chief Yeoman Warder and the Yeoman Gaoler. (I am idly wondering why the position of Yeoman Gaoler still exists. Perhaps for the occasional rowdy tourist) (or maybe to chase down a particular American young lady who seeks to make off with one of the tour radios. Not that I would have any personal knowledge of such a heinous offense)

I guess if one wants to see the medieval mural, one would have to have a Yeoman Warder for a chum. (how does one go about befriending one of those guys???)

And the Birds Still Sang...April 19,1995

Birds cheerfully whistling and chirping and singing in my backyard.

Strangely, this is what I remember most about those moments before our lives and our hearts were changed 20 years ago. The sun was shining, the grass was green, there was a noisy little posse of kids around my breakfast table and new life kicking happily inside me...and the birds were singing.

And...then they weren't. Actually, they might have been but I didn't hear them. We all heard and felt the explosion and went outside to look at the sky. There was smoke rising from the area of downtown Oklahoma City. Perhaps the birds were still singing in those moments...perhaps not.

In horror, we learned what the explosion meant. In disbelief, we listened as the death toll rose. In mind-numbing shock, we saw the pictures that will never leave our consciousness. 

And the birds still sang...

Concerning a Very, Very Obscure Link Between Gladys Aylward and The Tower of London...Day 5m

Writing this blog has been a delight and will be a treasure for me to read in the years to come! It has been so much fun revisiting in my mind the places we traveled to, viewing photos of the things we saw and remembering all those *special* moments, some of which may never make it into this blog. (don't thank me yet,  chums, and don't heave a sigh of relief, you're not out of the woods yet because, after all, I am only on Day 5 of the 13 day trip...)

But, making this even more fun, are the serendipity moments I have experienced in the research I am doing to make sure I am referring to each tower by its correct name or accurately identify each restaurant or tube station or verifying that all my facts are correct such as when Handel lived in London or how Queen Victoria met Albert, you know, important stuff like that.

Since I have been writing about the Tower of London, one of my favorite sources on the Internet has been a fascinating old book The Tower From Within, written by George Younghusband who was a cavalry officer and major-general in the British Indian Army. He served in several wars, and retired in the middle of the First World War when he was severely wounded. He recovered, though, and here is where the fun begins. He was appointed as keeper of the Jewel House at the Tower of London and subsequently wrote a book about the entire history of the Tower. which is actually on the Internet if you have a few spare hours (and the interest) (and the intestinal fortitude) (and a love of Victorian literature) to read it.

  The link to The Tower From Within by George Younghusband
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iYNnAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22The+Tower+from+Within%27%27+by+George+Younghusband&hl=en&sa=X&ei=D8wWVbPqLuzZsATaiIDIBw&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Tower%20from%20Within%27%27%20by%20George%20Younghusband&f=false

What does this have to do with Gladys Aylward you ask? Well, I am glad you asked... George's younger brother, Francis Younghusband, was a British army officer as well and an explorer and an author. When he wasn't out exploring China, India, Tibet and other regions in Asia, serving in the army or researching spiritual new age stuff for his books (yes, he was a bit of a hippy way before the 1960s) and mystical pantheism, he lived in London. And like most well-to-do families of the era, he hired domestic help for his wife. One housemaid is of particular interest: Gladys Aylward who saved every penny she earned working for this family in order to fund her journey to Yangcheng China.

And there you have it, the very, very obscure link between Gladys Aylward and the Tower of London. Isn't it just the way God works? He used a non-Christian to help His daughter fund her dream to become a missionary in China. And I love the fact that the cherished dream of Gladys Aylward was to lead others to God, rather than go to college or become a concert pianist or paint a masterpiece...just to humbly serve God in China.