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March-Oct Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10am-6pm; Nov-Feb Mon & Sun 10am-5pm, Tues-Sat 9am-5pm; GBP11; www.hrp.org.uk. Tube: Tower Hill. One of Britain's main tourist attractions, the Tower of London overlooks the river at the eastern boundary of the old city walls. Despite all the hype and heritage claptrap, it remains one of London's most remarkable buildings, site of some of the goriest events in the nation's history and somewhere all visitors and Londoners should explore at least once. Chiefly famous as a place of imprisonment and death, it has variously been used as a royal residence, armoury, mint, menagerie, observatory and - a function it still serves - a safe-deposit box for the Crown Jewels. Before you set off to explore the Tower complex, it's a good idea to get your bearings by taking one of the free guided tours , given every thirty minutes by one of the forty-odd Beefeaters (officially known as Yeoman Warders). Visitors today enter the Tower along Water Lane, but in times gone by most prisoners were delivered through Traitors' Gate , on the waterfront. The nearby Bloody Tower , which forms the main entrance to the Inner Ward, is where the twelve-year-old Edward V and his ten-year-old brother were accommodated "for their own safety" in 1483 by their uncle, the future Richard III, and later murdered. It's also where Sir Walter Ralegh was imprisoned on three separate occasions, including a thirteen-year stretch. The White Tower , at the centre of the Inner Ward, is the original "Tower", begun in 1076, and now home to displays from the Royal Armouries . Even if you've no interest in military paraphernalia, you should at least pay a visit to the Chapel of St John , a beautiful Norman structure on the second floor that was completed in 1080 - making it the oldest intact church building in London. To the west of the White Tower is the execution spot on Tower Green where seven highly-placed but unlucky individuals were beheaded, among them Anne Boleyn and her cousin Catherine Howard (Henry VIII's second and fifth wives). The Waterloo Barracks, to the north of the White Tower, hold the Crown Jewels , perhaps the major reason so many people flock to the Tower; however, the moving walkways are disappointingly swift, allowing you just 28 seconds' viewing during peak periods. The oldest piece of regalia is the twelfth-century Anointing Spoon , but the vast majority of exhibits postdate the Commonwealth (1649-60), when many of the royal riches were melted down for coinage or sold off. Among the jewels are the three largest cut diamonds in the world, including the legendary Koh-i-Noor , set into the Queen Mother's Crown in 1937.
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