england

This toilet in the Tower of London emptied to the outside by way of a cement like chute. Users didn’t have to go in a chamber pot or go outside to use an outhouse. Fancy!

There is a group of ravens that live in the Tower of London. There are at least seven of them (actually six, with a seventh in reserve.) The ravens are believed to protect the Crown and the Tower. A superstition holds that “If the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it.”

We visited The Tower of London with the Bennett’s and went on a tour led by a Beefeater who was pretty funny. Beefeaters are guards at the Tower and are actually called Yeoman Warders. They are technically responsible for looking after prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, but nowadays they act as tour guides. Many people wonder where they got that name. Some say it comes from the French word ‘buffetier’. Buffetiers were guards in the palace of French kings and protected the king’s food. The most common belief is that the name Beefeater originated from the time when the guards were paid part of their salary with chunks of beef. This took place right up until the 1800s.