Tower of London
Beefeaters
Although the origin of calling Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London "Beefeaters" is unknown, it may come from the fact that the early warders were paid in beef. The ravens at the tower still receive a daily ration of beef.
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn was Henry VIII's second wife but in 1536 was arrested and charged with treason, and taken to the Tower of London were she was soon beheaded. Legend has it that Henry heard of her execution as he played tennis at Hampton Court Palace.
Ghosts
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a follower of Spiritualism and firmly believed in fairies and ghosts, even helping investigate a possible haunting at a house in Dorset. He would have had a field day at the Tower of London, said to be the most haunted place in England.
William the Conqueror
The Domesday Book was compiled in 1086 on the instruction of William the Conqueror. He also ordered the White Tower of the Tower of London to be built to protect the Normans from the people of London and to protect London from invaders.
Gunpowder Plot
The Tower of London played a large part in the Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes was brought to the Tower to be interrogated and tortured by a council of the King's Ministers, and the gunpowder explosives planted under the House of Lords were sent to the Tower after the discovery. Fawkes' co-conspirator, Ambrose Rochewood, has left his inscription on the walls of the Martin Tower at the site.
