1
Middle Tower and the entrance
Where every visit begins: the outer gatehouse on the site of the medieval Lion Tower, crossed by a causeway over the dry moat.
- 5–15 min (est.)
- Step-free
- Queues
- 1 story
Explore the Tower
The map, and the list behind it
A schematic plan showing how the fortress fits together. It is not to scale and not for wayfinding: pick up the official map at the entrance for that. Every place on it is also in the list below, with the same numbers.
Tap a number for details. Brass line: the wall walk. Dashed circle: site of the Lion Tower. Skip the map and use the list.
Schematic drawn for this site from the published plan of the fortress; relative positions only, checked against the official map on 10 September 2026 for the order of places along Water Lane and the wall walk.
All sixteen places
- 2
Byward Tower and Water Lane
The inner gatehouse of Edward I's outer wall. Water Lane beyond it runs along the river side of the fortress to Traitors' Gate.
- 5–10 min (est.)
- Step-free
- 1 story
- 3
Bell Tower
The oldest tower after the White Tower, on the south-west corner, whose bell still rings the curfew. Thomas More and the future Elizabeth I were held nearby.
- 3–5 min (est.)
- Step-free
- 4
Traitors' Gate
Edward I's great water gate beneath St Thomas's Tower, built in the 1270s so the king could arrive by river. Its sinister name came later.
- 5–10 min (est.)
- Step-free
- Queues
- 1 story
- 5
Medieval Palace
The recreated royal lodgings of Henry III and Edward I in St Thomas's Tower, the Wakefield Tower and the Lanthorn Tower, linked by the wall walk.
- 20–30 min (est.)
- Many stairs
- Low light
- 6
Bloody Tower
The gate tower into the inner ward, once the Garden Tower, renamed for the disappearance of the Princes in 1483. Walter Raleigh spent most of thirteen years imprisoned here.
- 15–25 min (est.)
- Spiral stairs
- Low light
- Queues
- 1 story
- 7
White Tower
William the Conqueror's keep, begun in the 1070s and the reason the whole fortress is called the Tower. Inside: the Norman Chapel of St John and the Royal Armouries' Line of Kings.
- 40–60 min (est.)
- Many stairs
- Queues
- 1 story
- 8
Crown Jewels (Jewel House)
The working regalia of the British monarchy, in the Waterloo Block on the north side of the inner ward. The crowns pass on a moving walkway; the queue outside can be the longest of the day.
- 30–60 min
- Step-free
- Low light
- Queues
- 9
Tower Green and the scaffold site
The lawn in front of the Chapel Royal where a handful of high-status prisoners were executed in private, among them three queens. A glass memorial marks the spot.
- 10–15 min (est.)
- Step-free
- 2 stories
- 10
Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula
The Tower's parish church, rebuilt in 1519–20, where Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey and Thomas More were buried without ceremony.
- 10–15 min (est.)
- Some steps
- 11
Beauchamp Tower
Edward I's tower on the west wall became the Tudor prison for well-born captives. Its walls carry the densest collection of prisoner graffiti in the Tower, including the name IANE.
- 15–20 min (est.)
- Spiral stairs
- Low light
- 1 story
- 12
Martin Tower
The north-east corner tower where the Crown Jewels were kept in 1671 when Colonel Blood tried to steal them. It now ends the wall walk with a display of crown frames.
- 10–15 min (est.)
- Some steps
- 1 story
- 13
Salt Tower
The south-east corner of Henry III's inner wall, later a prison for Catholic priests under Elizabeth I. Hew Draper, a Bristol innkeeper accused of sorcery, carved an astrological sphere into its wall in 1561.
- 10–15 min (est.)
- Spiral stairs
- 14
Wall walk (Battlements)
The route along the top of the inner curtain wall, linking the Salt, Broad Arrow, Constable and Martin towers, with the best views of the White Tower and Tower Bridge.
- 25–40 min (est.)
- Many stairs
- 1 story
- 15
The ravens
At least six ravens live at the Tower under a Ravenmaster. Their lodgings are on the South Lawn, below the White Tower, and they roam four territories inside the walls.
- 5–10 min (est.)
- Step-free
- 1 story
- 16
New Armouries Café
The main café inside the walls, in the 1660s New Armouries building east of the White Tower. The obvious place for a break with children.
- 15–30 min (est.)
- Step-free