Below are a few pictures I took this last summer during my trip to London that I thought you might enjoy seeing since we are reading about these EXACT places in Mary, Bloody Mary right now.
A picture of one of the outer walls
Another view from a different facing outer wall. You'll see a bridge in the bottom left corner, and beneath it you will can barely see a moat. During the Middle Ages, that moat used to be filled with sewage from the town and the castle itself for two reasons: 1) Where else were they going to put the sewage? and 2) For protection. Would you want to swim through it in order to attach the Tower? After the Tower (the castle) started being known far and wide as being "stinky", the sewage was moved to another location. Wouldn't you have loved to have had that job???
Another view of the outer walls. The entire grassy area is the old moat where the sewage was. Right about where the trees are is where the living quarters were for the royal family. Above the tall stone wall in the center of the picture, you'll see four chimneys. It was about in this area that Sir Thomas More was held prisoner. (We'll read more about that later...)
Remember that at the beginning of the book, Mary was reading Utopia, a book written by her father's friend, Sir Thomas More. Turns out, they weren't very good friends after all... Are we really surprised Henry VIII wasn't a very loyal friend???
This building is where the royal family lived. It is located in the center of the grounds. This is where Henry VIII lived with his many wives. This is where Mary lived until her father forced her to move out, and this is also where Mary's half sister, Elizabeth (we haven't gotten to this in the book yet) was born. Across the path (where I was standing to take this picture) is where royalty was beheaded. A special monument stands there today. I'll post of picture of it when we read that part of the book.
I apologize that I did not take a serious picture (we were being "sad" since this it is now a cemetery), but behind my brother, sister and I is Wesminster Abbey. This is where not only Mary is buried, but this is where Henry VIII, Catherine and Anne were all crowned king or queen.
