“My prisoner, or my guest?” (from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale)

Approximately 1000 years old, the Tower of London is massive! Though, don’t let the name confuse you, many towers that make up this fortress. The oldest part, the White Tower, sits at the center and with the many other buildings added over the years, it’s like its own little village.

Now here’s the really wild thing: The Tower was once the home to kings and queens, and people actually live at Tower today -- the Yeoman Warders. We spoke with one of the guards living at the Tower with his wife and daughter, a high-school aged girl! If she isn’t back by 10pm, she’s locked out for the night. The entire place is locked up promptly at 10pm with no way of re-entering until the following day. This certainly gives making curfew a whole new importance.

We were particularly interested in the Tower of London during Shakespeare’s time and immediately made our way to the Bloody Tower. If you are familiar with Shakespeare’s play Richard III, you know how the Bloody Tower got its name. It’s a particularly gruesome tale that is explained in our video.

We also learned about the Tower Green, where several prisoners were executed. One of the most famous was Ann Boleyn. Many other famous people were imprisoned in the Tower complex, including Sir Walter Raleigh and Guy Fawkes, who was one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. Today, some believe that ghosts of these prisoners roam the Tower, though we did not see anything unusual.

Clink Prison Museum: Next, we headed to Southwark to learn about crime and punishment at Clink Prison Museum. The museum is location on this really unique street -- winding, narrow, and cobblestoned. It reminded me of Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

We learned all about the Clink Prison’s history from the Museum Director, James, who has an incredible knowledge crime and punishment during the time of Shakespeare.

For me, it was shocking to learn how many people were imprisoned for their religious beliefs. Though, in Shakespeare’s day religion could save your life. If prisoners could read a passage from the Bible they would be tried in the church, where there was no death penalty for crimes committed. Those not able to read were subject to far worse.

Who’s Hungry: Let’s Eat!

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