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Tower of London Timeline

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Tower of London – 1821

The Tower of London Timeline
The History of the site of Tower of London covers hundreds of years and many different reigns. This comprehensive Tower of London Timeline has been developed to show the major events which occurred during the various rule of each of the Kings and Queens of England. The Tower of London Timeline is simple to follow and the dates of each of the reigns and the names of the relevant Kings and Queens are highlighted for ease of reference. All major building events are detailed in the Tower of London timeline. Key events of the history of London and England have also been described within the Tower of London timeline. Links have also been provided giving access to even more facts and information about events listed in the Tower of London Timeline. Please click the following link for comprehensive facts and information about all of the Medieval Kings and Queens in the Middle Ages

Tower of London Timeline

  • The Tower of London Timeline
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Tower of London Timeline

Tower of London Timeline

Tower of London Timeline Events

Tower of London Ancient Timeline

Bar! 43AD The Romans built a fort, in the walled city they called Londinium, on the site of present day London on the North Bank of the River Thames
Bar! c.530AD Celtic Legend tells King Bran Hen of Bryneich was killed in battle and requested that his head was buried, as a talisman against invasion, on Gwynfryn (the ‘White Mount’) where the Tower of London now stands. ‘Bran’ is the Celtic word for ‘raven’ - origin of the Tower of London ravens legend
Bar! 885AD King Alfred the Great rebuilds part of the old Londinium Roman Wall

Tower of London Timeline Dates - 1000's

1066 - 1087

William the Conqueror

1066 The Normans invade England in September 1066 and commence their strategy of building castles
Bar! 1066/67 The Normans start to build a timber tower in their Motte and Bailey Castles style using the old Roman city walls to the east and south massive ditches to the West and the North as protection. A palisade was built along the north and west sides of the Tower
Bar! January 1067 William the Conqueror is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey in London
Bar! 1078 A stone built, fortified, Tower was commissioned by William the Conqueror replacing the timber tower - it was called the Great Tower ( White Tower )
Bar! 1078 The name of the Norman Master Builder of the Tower of London was Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester
Bar! 1086 The Doomsday Book is completed in England
Bar! 9th September 1087 William the Conqueror dies at Saint-Gervais near Rouen, France
Bar! 1078 - 1097 The White Tower was built by Norman masons but the labourers were English (Anglo-Saxon).

1087 - 1100

William Rufus (son of William)

Bar! 1091 A great storm damaged the timber outworks - the minor fortifications constructed beyond the main defensive position ( the Tower ) requiring repairs.
Bar! 1097 Work on the White Tower was completed and the inner ward of the Tower was enclosed

Tower of London Timeline Events and Dates - 1100's

1100 - 1135

Henry I (William Rufus' brother)

Bar! No records of additional work during this period
Bar! 1100 The first recorded state prisoner was Ranulf Flambard, Bishop of Durham Tower of London Prisoners
Bar! 1101 Bishop Ranulf Flambard escapes from the Tower of London

1135 - 1154

Stephen (nephew of Henry I)

Bar! No records of additional work during this period

1154 - 1189

Henry II (grandson of Henry I)

Bar! No records of additional work during this period

1189 - 1199

Richard I (third son of Henry II)

Bar! 1190 Work started to surround the White Tower with two towered curtain walls and a great ditch as additional defences.
Bar! Richard the Lionheart embarked on the Crusades. William Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely was appointed his regent - Justiciar of all England and Constable of the Tower of London. Residing in the fortress he seized land from the city and of St. Katharine's Hospital and expanded the Tower as follows:

  • The Roman wall was extended as a curtain wall westwards along the waterfront
  • The Wardrobe Tower was built where the monarch’s clothing, armour and equipment were stored
  • Work on the construction of the Bell Tower commenced
  • A Northern wall created the Outer Ward and a second curtain wall
  • Deep ditch dug outside of the walls
  • Efforts to flood the ditch from the River Thames failed
Bar! 1191 The first siege at the Tower of London
Bar! 1191 Prince John opposes the powerful Bishop Longchamp and lays siege to the Tower of London. After only three days, lack of provisions forced Bishop Longchamp to surrender

Tower of London Timeline Events and Dates - 1200's

1199 - 1216

A Royal Menagerie was established at the Tower

Bar! 1204 The church of St. Peter was completed
Bar! 1210 The Bell Tower was completed during the reign of King John
Bar! 1210 King John took up residence in the Tower
Bar! 1210 A moat was dug outside the City of London wall. The City ditch drained into the Tower moat causing a foul smell in the Tower and causing friction between John and the Londoners
Bar! 1211 / 1213 Signing of the Magna Charta between King John and the Barons
Bar! 1215 The whole Tower was held in pledge for the completion of Magna Charta
Bar! 1215 / 1216 Legend has it that King John lost the Crown Jewels, which were kept in Westminster Abbey, in quicksand
Bar! 1216 Work continued on the additional Tower of London defences

1216 - 1272

Henry III (son of John)

Bar! King Henry III was only ten years old when he was crowned but he immediately started on a strategy to reinforce all of the royal castles, including the Tower of London. At first the fortifications were strengthened and a new wall was built enclosing the west side of the Inmost Ward
Bar! 1220 - 1230’s Royal accommodation was extended in the White Tower which was substantially rebuilt with a new Great Hall and kitchens
Bar! 1236 There was opposition to his ruler and Henry took refuge in the Tower from the Barons
Bar! 1238 Once again, Henry took refuge in the Tower from the Barons
Bar! 1238 - 1272 Henry, appreciating the strength of the Tower, initiated further building plans with his chief architect Henry de Reyns together with John of Gloucester and Robert of Beverley:

  • The Wakefield Tower was added as the Kings Lodgings ( the second largest tower)
  • The Lanthorn Tower was added as the Queens Lodgings
  • A new entrance to the Tower of London, with a drawbridge was added called the Byward Tower
    • The Byward Tower was the great Gatehouse of the Outer Ward and is in part the work of Henry III, and in part that of Richard II
  • A great new curtain wall was constructed round the north, east, and west sides of the castle
  • The new curtain wall doubled the area covered by the Tower complex, enclosing the neighboring church of St Peter ad Vincula
  • The King paid for the new land which the owners had been forced to sell
  • The moat was extended and successfully flooded with water from the River Thames by a Flemish engineer called John Le Fosser
Bar! 1241 - 1244 The Welsh Prince Gruffydd was imprisoned and fell to his death in a bid to escape
Bar! 1263 - 1267 The Barons War. The barons led by Simon de Montfort force the king to submit to government by council leading to the formation of the English Parliament
Bar! 1264 The Royal Menagerie was moved to the Bulwark (outer defence), which was duly renamed the Lion Tower
Bar! 1255 King Louis of France gave Henry III the first elephant seen in England
Bar! 1238 - 1272 Ten additional towers were built added including:


A massive £21,000 was spent on these improvements

1272 - 1307

Edward I (son of Henry III) also referred to as Longshanks

Bar! 1272 - 1307 King Edward I continued the castle building initiated by his father Henry III and, with his chief architect and builder Master James of St George, built massive Concentric Castles in England, Scotland and Wales. The White Tower was strengthened with two towered curtain walls and great ditch defences
Bar! 1272 - 1307 King Edward I continued the castle building initiated by his father Henry III and, with his chief architect and builder Master James of St George, built massive Concentric Castles in England, Scotland and Wales. The White Tower was strengthened with two towered curtain walls and great ditch defences
Bar! 1275 - 1279 St Thomas’s Tower was built (named after Thomas a Becket ) with new Royal lodgings and the River Thames entrance known as Traitor’s Gate
Bar! 1275 - 1279 he Well Tower was built ( two water shafts from the tower ran underground )
Bar! 1275 - 1281 The Beauchamp Tower, started in 1275, and the moat was completed
Bar! 1282 A new postern ( small entrance ) to the Tower of London was added called the Develin Tower
Bar! 1303 The Crown Jewels were moved from Westminster Abbey to the Tower which served as a treasury

Tower of London Timeline Events & Dates - 1300's

Bar! 1307 - 1327 Edward II (son of Edward I)
Bar! 1307 - 1327 The Tower of London played a crucial role during the dangerous reign of King Edward II and was used a royal refuge and to maintain royal authority.
Bar! 1307 - 1327 Improvements were made to the Tower of London defences including the curtain walls
Bar! 1307 - 1327 The Tower was used for the storage of official papers by the King’s Wardrobe
Bar! 1324 Roger Mortimer, the first Earl of March, leads the barons in a rebellion against King Edward II. He was incarcerated in the Tower but managed to escape to France, followed by his lover, Isabella of France, wife of Edward II and Queen of England!
Bar! 1327 The king was forced to abdicate in favour of his young son, Edward III. England was ruled by Mortimer and Isabella who are believed to have arranged the murder of Edward II at Berkeley Castle

1327 - 1377

Edward III (son of Edward II)

Bar! 22-Aug-03 When the young king came of age he incarcerated Roger Mortimer in the Tower. He was condemned without trial and hanged at Tyburn on 29 November, 1330
Bar! 1338 -1342 Edward III pawned the Crown Jewels in order to pay his troops at the start of the Hundred Years War - the practice was forbidden after his reign
Bar! 1348 - 1349 The terrible Black Death ravaged England killing nearly one third of the population - in London it was much worse and the population almost halved to 30,000. Pricess Joan, one of the Kings daughters, was killed by the Black Death. The moat was drained as it was feared an additional health hazard. Modern excavation have revealed Plague Pits just outside the Tower of London
Bar! 1360 - 1377 Henry Yeverley, Master Mason was employed by the King as his chief Architect. More fortifications and a new gatehouse between the Lanthorn Tower and the Salt Tower was added together with smaller entrances behind the Byward and Develin Tower. The upper parts of the Bloody Tower were also re-built
Bar! 1360 - 1377 The Cradle Tower was added
Bar! 1360 - 1377 The Tower Wharf was extended eastwards as far as St Thomas’s Tower
Bar! 1327 - 1377 The ‘Great Tower’ began to assume its modern name, as “La Blanche Tour” - the White Tower after yet another coating of whitewash

1377 - 1399

Richard II (grandson of Edward III, son of the Black Prince)

Bar! 1378 The extension of the Tower Wharf and the Byward Tower improvements were completed
Bar! 1381 The Tower under Siege The Peasants Revolt The Tower of London was under siege by English peasants. The Peasant’s Revolt was instigated by a new poll tax and peasants marched on London led by Wat Tyler and John Bull. Richard II and many of his family and household were forced to shelter in the Tower while over 10,000 rebels plundered and burned London for two days.
Bar! June 14th 1381 Part of the Tower was occupied, and the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Treasurer was captured and brutally beheaded. The fourteen year old King Richard pacified the peasants in Blackheath.
Bar! June 15th 1381 Wat Tyler was later killed by Mayor Walworth and his men. John Ball met an even more horrific fate and was hung, drawn and quartered.
Bar! 1387 The King and his Queen took refuge in the Tower again when the barons clashed with Robert de Vere, the Earl of Oxford
Bar! 1399 John of Gaunt died and King Richard seized his lands. Gaunt’s son, Henry Bolingbroke invaded England, whilst Richard was on campaign in Ireland, usurping the throne from the king
Bar! 1 October 1399 King Richard II was condemned as a tyrant. He renounced the crown in his chamber in the White Tower and Henry IV was proclaimed King the next day.

Tower of London Timeline Events & Dates - 1400's

1399 - 1413

Henry IV (grandson of Edward III, son of John of Gaunt)

Bar! 1399 Henry invaded England while Richard was on campaign in Ireland, usurping the throne from the king
Bar! 1413 The leader of the Lollards, Sir John Oldcastle arrested the friend of the King was arrested and sent to the Tower of London
Bar! 1413 Henry IV died suffering from leprosy and epilepsy

1413 - 1422

Henry V (son of Henry IV)

Bar! 1419 The Royal Witch The notorious Dowager Queen of England, Joan of Navarre, was accused by her stepson Henry V of witchcraft and necromancy - she was acquitted
Bar! 1413 - 1422 The wars waged during his reign left England deeply in debt

1422 - 1461 & 1470 - 1471

Henry VI (son of Henry V)

Bar! 1465 - 1470 The mentally unstable and pious Lancastrian King Henry VI and his headstrong and ambitious wife Margaret of Anjou were imprisoned in the Tower of London from 1465 until 1470. Henry was briefly restored to power in 1470
Bar! 22nd May 1471 The last Lancastrian king was murdered in the Wakefield Tower, whilst he was at prayer, the following day. He was probably murdered on the orders of Edward IV
Bar! England entered the period of civil disorder and political instability known as the Wars of the Roses.

1461 - 1483

Edward IV ( youngest son of Edward III )

Bar! 1461 - 1483 Edward IV maintained and improved the Tower defences
Bar! 1480 A new brick bulwark (outer defence) was built beyond the western entrance
Bar! 1461 - 1483 Edward IV was a notorious womaniser - his affairs led to claims of illegitimacy and ultimately led to the murder of his sons

1483

Edward V (eldest son of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville)

Bar! 1483 The boy king was on his way to his coronation in London but was intercepted by his uncle, and Protector ( who would become Richard III ). Edward was escorted to London and then to the Tower. On the 16th June 1483 he was joined by his brother Prince Richard. The coronation was cancelled.
Bar! 1483 The thirteen year old King and his ten year old brother mysteriously disappeared in the Tower after being declared illegitimate. They were believed to have been murdered and are referred to as the Little Princes in the Tower

1483 - 1485

Richard III (uncle of Edward V)

Bar! June 25 1483 Parliament declared the two little princes illegitimate and, as next in line to the throne, their uncle and Protector, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was declared the true King. The two little princes were never seen again
Bar! August 22nd 1485 A Lancastrian rebellion rose against the Yorkist Richard and on he fell in the Battle of Bosworth Field to Henry Tudor

1485 - 1509

Henry VII (grandson of Henry V)

Bar! 1485-1509 Henry VII cemented his succession and settled the friction between the Yorkists and Lancastrians by marrying the Yorkist heir, Elizabeth of York
Bar! Henry VII built the last permanent royal residential buildings at the Tower of London:

  • He extended the Royal lodgings around the Lanthorn Tower
  • Added a new private chamber
  • Built a library
  • Added a long gallery
Bar! 1487 Lambert Simnel (1475–1525) imposter and pretender to the English throne was defeated at the battle of Stoke, taken prisoner but pardoned and supposedly was employed as a scullion in the royal kitchen
Bar! 1499 Perkin Warbeck, who also claimed to be one of the Princes in the Tower (Richard) was interrogated and executed at the Tower of London
Bar! Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, had a strong Yorkist claim to the throne as a descendent of Edward III, was imprisoned for years and finally executed by Henry VIII without trial in 1513
Bar! 1502 A papal dispensation was obtained to enable his second son Henry to marry the wife (Katherine of Aragon) of his first son Arthur who had died

Tower of London Timeline Events & Dates - 1500's

1509 - 1547

Henry VIII (Henry VII's second son, Arthur married Katherine of Aragon but died at the age of 15)

Bar! 1509 King Henry VIII marries Katherine of Aragon
Bar! 1512 The original chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula was burned down
Bar! 1515 The chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula re-built
Bar! 1515 - 1547 Gun emplacements were improvised during the reign of Henry VIII. The roof of the White Tower needed to be strengthened to take the weight of cannon
Bar! 1513 Edmund de la Pole - a threat to the Tudor throne - executed without trial
Bar! 1530 Extensive building and repairs work to the Royal Lodgings was conducted under the orders of Henry VIII in preparation of the coronation of Anne Boleyn. The work was supervised by Thomas Cromwell. This included the repair and decoration of the magnificent Great Hall and new chamber for the Queen.
Bar! 1530 The White Tower’s most famous features – the onion-shaped domes on the turrets, complete with weather vanes
Bar! 1533 Henry divorced his first wife, Katherine of Aragon
Bar! 1534 Henry VIII broke with the Church in Rome with the Act of Supremacy, which made the king head of the Church of England. The Tower expands the role of prison for a large number of religious and political prisoners and its bloody history
Bar! 1535 Sir Thomas Moore and Bishop Fisher of Rochester were executed for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the English Church
Bar! January 25th 1533 Henry married Anne Boleyn
Bar! May 23rd 1533 Anne lead a procession from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey for her coronation
Bar! May 2nd 1536 Anne Boleyn arrested and taken to the Tower which she entered by Traitor’s Gate
Bar! May 15th 1536 Anne Boleyn tried for treason, adultery and incest in the Great Hall of the Tower of London
Bar! May 19th 1536 Anne Boleyn executed on Tower Hill. Anne’s body and head were buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Within 24 hours of Anne Boleyn’s execution, Jane Seymour and Henry VIII were formally betrothed. On the 30th of May 1536 they were married but Jane dies a premature death after giving birth to Henry’s son.
Bar! 1540 Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves but the marriage is annulled. Thomas Cromwell is blamed, imprisoned in the Tower, then executed on Tower Hill
Bar! July 28th 1540 49 year old Henry married 19 year old Catherine Howard
Bar! 1541 Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, is executed in the Tower
Bar! 13th February 1542 Catherine Howard executed for adultery
Bar! 12th July 1543 Henry marries Katherine Parr who had a near brush with death she was linked with ‘heretical’ religious reformers including the tragic Anne Askew who was tortured on the rack in the tower

1547 - 1553

Edward V (Henry's son by Jane Seymour)

Bar! 1548 Thomas Seymour is imprisoned in the Tower, then beheaded on Tower Hill
Bar! 1552 The young King’s protector, the Duke of Somerset, and his confederates met their death at the Tower
Bar! 1553 Edward died of tuberculosis and he left the throne to ‘the Lady Jane and her heirs male.’

Monday 10 July - 1553

Lady Jane Grey (Queen for just Nine Days)

Bar! Monday 10th July 1553 Proclaimed Queen of England. Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley were taken in full state from Syon House to the Royal Apartments in the Tower of London
Bar! 19th July 1553 Queen Jane was deposed as Queen

1553 - 1558

Mary (Henry's daughter by Queen Katherine of Aragon)

Bar! 1553 - 1558 The eldest daughter of Henry VIII is referred to as ‘Bloody Mary’ for her persecution of Protestants and political rivals
Bar! 12th February 1553 Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley were executed at the Tower of London
Bar! 1554 Princess Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower for eight weeks
Bar! 1555 The men-at-arms were formally incorporated as yeoman warders. 21 warders were appointed and were joined by 17 ‘skilful gunners’
Bar! 1556 Archbishop Cranmer, Bishops Ridley and Latimer, who were condemned to death for heresy, were imprisoned in the Tower before being burned at the stake at Oxford in 1556

1558 - 1603

Elizabeth I (Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn)

Bar! 1563 When the Black Death ( Bubonic Plague ) broke out in London in 1563, Queen Elizabeth I moved her court to Windsor Castle where she erected gallows and ordered that anyone coming from London was to be hanged
Bar! 11583 Relatives of William Shakespeare sent to the Tower. In 1583 Edward Arden, the head of the Catholic Arden Family was executed for his Catholic beliefs and for plotting against the life of the Queen. Edward Arden’s son-in-law, John Somerville, was also arrested, tortured on the rack and died in the Tower of London for being supporters of the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots
Bar! 1585 Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, died in mysterious circumstances in the Tower by three bullet holes in the chest
Bar! 1599 The Jesuit priest John Gerard escaped from the Cradle Tower
Bar! 25th February 1601 Robert Devereux (1566-1601), Earl of Essex executed on Tower Green
Bar! 1601 - 1603 The Royal Mint was extended and new storehouses were built for royal military supplies

Tower of London Timeline Events & Dates - 1600's

1603 - 1625

James I of England James VI of Scotland (great-great-grandson of Henry VII)

Bar! 1603 James I arrived at the Tower on the day of his arrival in London from Edinburgh and stayed there for several nights
Bar! 1613 Sir Thomas Overbury, poet and courtier, was poisoned in the Tower
Bar! 1618 Sir Walter Raleigh was held in the Wardrobe Tower and the Brick Tower before he was beheaded in Old Palace Yard
Bar! The Lieutenant’s house - built in the 1540s and now called the Queen’s House - was extended and modified.

1625 - 1649

Charles I (second son of James)

Bar! 1629 The King’s chief opponent in Parliament was Sir John Eliot, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London until his death in 1632
Bar! 1642 Civil war broke out between King and parliament.
Bar! 1643 The Tower was seized from the King by parliamentarians and remained in their hands throughout the Civil War (1642-49) during which time a permanent garrison was installed
Bar! 30th January 1649 Charles was beheaded on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London.

1649 - 1659

The Commonwealth under the Cromwells

Bar! 7 February 1649 The office of King was formally abolished
Bar! 1649 The Crown Jewels were ordered to be broken up as being symbolic of the ‘detestable rule of kings’. Many precious stones were sold separately but some ancient pieces were sold intact and subsequently returned to the crown

1660 - 1685

Charles II (oldest son of Charles) Royal House of Stuart Restored

Bar! 1660 - 1685 Major improvements to the Tower’s defences were made and batteries of guns were set in place along the walls and the arsenal was expanded. The garrison was used to quell any disturbances in the City of London.
Bar! 1660 - 1685 The Stone Kitchen and Golden Chain taverns, used by the inhabitants of the casements and other tower employees, were believed to have been built at this time
Bar! 1660 - 1685 The function of the Tower declined as a state prison declined and the Office of Ordnance took over responsibility for most of the castle.
Bar! 1660 Replacements for the lost Crown Jewels were purchased at a cost of nearly £13,000
Bar! 1660 The first sightseers were admitted to the Tower of London which included viewing of the Crown Jewels
Bar! 1671 Colonel Thomas Blood and his men tried to steal the Crown Jewels from the Martin Tower in 1671
Bar! 1666 The Tower narrowly escaped destruction from the Great Fire of London
Bar! 1666 Records show that 9,677 barrels of gunpowder were stored in the White Tower
Bar! 1663 - 1664 The New Armouries were built as a storehouse for small arms by the Board of Ordinance

61685 - 1688

James II (brother of Charles II)

Bar! 1685 James had to crush a rebellion of Protestants who rallied around his nephew James, Duke of Monmouth, the son of Charles II the son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter. Monmouth was captured and beheaded on Tower Hill
Bar! 1688 Hanging Judge Jeffreys sentenced many to death acted on the orders of the King
Bar! 1688 The building of the Grand Storehouse begun to house arms and army and navy munitions
Bar! 1688 The Catholic James was deposed and replaced by by his Protestant daughter and son-in-law, Mary II and William III, who became joint Sovereigns.

1689 - 1694

William and Mary - William of Orange (grandson of Charles I) and Mary (daughter of James II)

Bar! 1689 Hanging Judge Jeffreys died in the Tower - he had sentenced 320 at the ‘Bloody Assizes’ to be executed or transported to the Penal colonies
Bar! 1690 Battle of Boyne The deposed James made one attempt to regain the crown, but his French and Irish forces were soundly defeated at the Battle of Boyne

1694 - 1702

William of Orange ruled alone after Mary's death

Tower of London Timeline Events & Dates - 1700's

1702 - 1714

Anne (sister of Mary)

Bar! The Monarchy no longer used the Tower as State apartments so showed little interest in the castle

1714 - 1727

George I (great-grandson of James I)

Bar! The Monarchy no longer used the Tower as State apartments so showed little interest in the castle

1727 - 1760

George II (son of George I)

Bar! The Monarchy no longer used the Tower as State apartments so showed little interest in the castle

1760 - 1820

George III (grandson of George II)

Bar! 1780 The Tower held its only American prisoner, former President of the Continental Congress, Henry Laurens
Bar! 1804 The menagerie was opened to the Public

Tower of London Timeline Events & Dates - 1800's

1820 - 1830

George IV (son of George III)

Bar! As the Prince of Wales George IV was impressed by the work of the architect, John Nash. He commissioned him to design Regent’s Park and its environs of curved terraces. He also arranged for Nash to create Buckingham Palace and the rebuilding of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton

1830 - 1837

William IV (brother of George IV)

Bar! 1834 - 1835 The Royal Menagerie left the Lion Tower in 1834 to become the London Zoo. Most of the Lion Tower was demolished soon after, although the Lion Gate still remains

1837 - 1901

Victoria (niece of William IV)

Bar! 1841 The first official guidebook to the Tower was published
Bar! 1841 The Grand Storehouse burned down during a great fire at the Tower and many weapons were destroyed The moat, which had been drained and filled in 1843,
Bar! 1843 The moat was drained and filled
Bar! 1848 Revolution swept across Europe and in London the Chartist movement delivered a petition to Parliament asserting the rights of ordinary people. Fear that a revolutionary mob might storm the Tower prompted a final refortification of the Tower
Bar! 1850 The documents of state stored in the Record Office moved to Chancery Lane
Bar! 1851 Anthony Salvin, a Victorian architect, was appointed in 1851 to ‘restore’ the Tower to a pseudo-medieval form so it could be opened to the public. The Salt Tower, White Tower, St Thomas’s Tower and the Bloody Tower were all ‘restored’
Bar! 1851 The restoration of the Tower included the demolition of the two taverns, the Stone Kitchen and the Golden Chain which was used by tower employees
Bar! 1855 The War Office assumed responsibility for the manufacture and storage of weapons
Bar! 1842-1862 Waterloo Barracks were built - the Brick, Flint and Bowyer were altered to provide additional accomodation. The barracks were able to house 1,000 soldiers and new loop-holes and gun emplacements were built. The Royal Fusilier’s Museum, built as the Officer’s Mess, was also erected
Bar! 1870 John Taylor took over the restoration of the Tower of London which included the Cradle and Develin towers
Bar! 1876-1877 Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula - bones were exhumed, including those of Anne Boleyn, as part of the chapel’s restoration

Tower of London Timeline Events & Dates - 1900's

1901 - 1910

Edward VII (son of Victoria and Albert)

1910 - 1936

George V (second son of Edward VII)

Bar! 1914 - 1918 The First World War - a bomb fell in the moat of the tower
Bar! 1914 - 1916 11 German spies were shot in the tower
Bar! 1930’s Excavation of the moat adjacent to the former Royal menagerie site at the Tower of London. Many animal skulls, including lions and leopard, were found dating back to the 1200’s

1936

Edward VIII (son of George V)

Bar! The abdication of King Edward VIII following his affair with Wallis Simpson

1936 - 1952

George VI (second son of George V)

Bar! 1933 - 1937 Army officer, and Traitor, Norman Baillie-Stewart was the last British citizen held for any length of time in the Tower of London
Bar! 1939 - 1945 The Second World War - Bomb damage to the Tower severely damaged or destroyed many buildings
Bar! 05-Oct-40 The North Bastion received a direct hit
Bar! 1940 The Hospital Block which was partly destroyed during an air raid
Bar! Bombs also destroyed the Main Guard, to the south west of the White Tower.
Bar! 14-Aug-41 The last prisoner of the Tower of London, Corporal Josef Jakobs, a German spy, is executed.
Bar! 1942 Hitler’s Deputy Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, Rudolf Hess, was imprisoned in the Kings’s House for 4 days.
Bar! 1945 The Crown Jewels had been moved to a secret location at the start of the war, for safe keeping. The collection was returned to the Tower at the end of the war
Bar! 1940’s - 1950’s Waterloo Barracks used as a base for the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Bar! 1952 The Kray twins were held in the Tower for 4 days for failing to report for national service, making them amongst the last prisoners of the Tower of London; was the traitorous Army officer Norman Baillie-Stewart from 1933-1937.

1952 -

Elizabeth II (daughter of George VI)

Bar! 1950’s Waterloo Barracks became the location of the Crown Jewels
Bar! 1967 An underground Jewel House was built but the display could not cope with the visitors which numbered up to 15,000 a day
Bar! 1968 The Mint was moved to Cardiff
Bar! 1994 The Crown Jewels were transferred to the Jewel House at the Tower of London which was opened by Queen Elizabeth I
Bar! 1995-1999 Archaeological Excavations of the Tower of London Moat unearthed parts of the Tower’s 13th century defences including the Beauchamp Tower which collapsed during the initial building program

The Tower of London Timeline
The above comprehensive Tower of London Timeline has been developed to show the major events which occurred during the various rule of each of the Kings and Queens of England. The highly detailed Tower of London Timeline is simple to follow and the dates of each of the reigns and the names of the relevant Kings and Queens are highlighted for ease of reference. All major building, demolition and improvements are detailed in the Tower of London timeline. Key events of the history of the City of London and England have also been described within the Tower of London timeline. Links have been provided giving access to even more facts and information about events listed in the Tower of London Timeline.

The Tower of London Timeline

The Tower of London

  • The History of The Tower of London
  • Information & Facts about The Tower of London
  • The Design, Layout and Architecture of The Tower of London - the different Towers
  • The Tower of London Timeline
  • The Tower of London Prisoners
  • The Executions and Beheading of men and women
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