The Tower of London is one of the capital’s most visited attractions. It  was originally founded by William the Conqueror in the wake of his Norman invasion (1066) but was subsequently added to and expanded by various Kings over the centuries.

In his novel Barnaby Rudge Charles Dickens sums up the despair that many who were locked up here must have felt and tells how the  “stillness which the records left by former prisoners with those silent witnesses [the thick stone walls of the Tower] seemed to deepen and intensify…’

However, the current layout of the Tower of London (which is in fact a collection of Towers) is mostly 19th century and few people who visit this fortress realise that, had it not been for a determined effort (tinged with a little farce) by the authorities, The Tower of London would now be little more than a distant memory.

In the early evening on 30th October, 1841, one of the buildings’ Towers, The Bowyer Towere, caught fire. The fortress possessed nine hand-worked fire engines which were quickly brought in to action but, since there was not suffient water to feed them, they were all but useless.

With the flames rapidly taking hold the Officer in Charge sent a messenger to bring the Lonodn Fire Establishement and told his sentries to let no-one enter the Tower of London.

At this point the situation turned a little farcical for, as Punch later reported, “military rule knows no exceptions” and when the Firemen turned up the soldiers on guard followed their orders to the letter  and refused to let the firemen into the Tower of London.

Thus, according to Punch the fire was left to “devour at its leisure the enormous meal that fate had prepared for it.’”

When, at last, the firemen were allowed in they could do nothing but hose the buildings that hadn’t yet burnt down to try and save them from the flames.

The fire was eventually brought under control, the flames doused and the damage assessed. It is as a result of the repair and rebuilding  that took place in the 19th century that the Tower of London that we see today gives the appearence of an appealing complex of medieval buildings.

This is just one of the stories covered on our London walks. But it typifies the in depth knowledge possessed by our guides and illustrates why a London walk is far and away the best way to see and understand historic London.