Tower Hill

Tower Hill is north of the Tower of London, and most of it was once part of the Tower Liberty, an area outside the Tower of London under the juridiction of the Tower and independant of the City of London. The boundary of Tower Hill is marked by thiry-one boundary-stones which run from Tower Pier, down St. Katherine's Way to the Iron Gate Stairs near Tower Bridge, with each stone bearing the broad arrow denoting royal ownership. You can see one of them outside the main gates of the Tower at the entrance to Tower Pier. A ceremony every three years on Ascension Day takes place, called the 'Beating the Bounds', where local choir boys beat the boundary-stones with willow wands in order to re-assert the Tower's authority.

Local choir boys beating one of the boundary-stones with willow wands. Left: The ceremony of beating the boundary-stones dates back to at least 1381 when official inspections were made of the markers. It is said that the choir boys at that time were themselves placed over the markers and whacked with the wands in order to impress the location of the markers.

The Moat path runs around the outer curtain wall, built by Edward I in his expansion to the Tower of London between 1275-85, which was once a low parapeted wall on the edge of the new moat. This was soon later raised to aproximately its present height, for extra protection, though it is still low enough for defenders within the inner walls and towers to shoot out across the moat to command the outer wall, if it should fall to the enemy.

Right: This picture, painted by George Campion (1796-1870) in 1840 shows the Tower of London, showing the Grand Storehouse (its turret to the left of the White Tower) before being destroyed by fire in 1841 and the moat before it was drained in 1843. In the foreground is Legge's Mount. Painting of the Tower of London looking towards the south-east, showing the north-west corner of the Tower, in 1840.

Along Tower Hill there were also two rounded bastions at the north-west and north-east corners of the outer curtain wall, and these were used by archers ot cover the moat and the upper grounds of Tower Hill. These bastions were given the names Legge's Mount and Brass Mount when they were reinforced and re-armed woth guns in 1683, and later on in 1848, the massive North Bastion was built between these two bastions. The North Bastion was built to prevent the threat of mob attack at the time of the Chartist riots, and was destroyed by a bomb in the Second World War.

The excavated remains of a medieval gate, known as the Tower Hill Postern, can be seen as you reach the subway towards the underground station, which was built soon after Edward I completed his new moat, around 1300. This postern was a subsidiary entrance to London through City wall, a section which can be seen on the other side of the subway.

Please click Next > to read about Executions at Tower Hill or < Back to re-read the introduction to The Wharf and Tower Hill.