Before the building of
St. Thomas's Tower, the tower that came to be called the Bloody Tower stood on the edge of the river and controlled the main river entrance to the
Tower of London. After 1280, with the construction of the Outer Ward and the new
watergate of St. Thomas's, it became the principal access from the Outer Ward to the Inner Ward.
The Bloody Tower was built in the early 1220s but the upper stage of the present tower was largely reconstructed in about 1360 durng the reign of Edward III. The vaulted gate passage beneath the tower was originally defended by two gates and two portcullises, one of each at either end. Only the portcullises and gate at the south end survive today, complete with the windlass that operates the portcullis from the first floor.
The lower chamber was built as superior accomodation, perhaps a guest room or office, for the Constable who lived nearby. Eventually this tower was to accomodate such eminent prisoners as two Archbishops of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer (in 1554-54), and William Laud (in 1640-5), and a Lord Chancellor, Judge Jeffreys (in 1688-9). Accomodation for important or high-ranking prisoners such as these, which reflected their status and enabled them to live with their families, was not uncommon.
The lower chamber is now furnished as it might have been during the 13-year imprisonment of Sir Walter Raleigh (1603-16), who was charged with plotting against King James I. During his imprisonment, Ralegh wrote
The History of the World (1614) and conducted many scientific experiments. He grew tobacco and other exotic plants and produced medicinal cordials.
In the mid-16th century, the Tower became known as the Bloody Tower because (or, so James I was told when he visited in 1604) it was where the "Princes in the Tower" had been murdered. Today, a display on the upper floor retells this infamous story.
The princes, 12-year old Edward and his young brother, Richard, sons of Edward IV, had been lodged in the tower following their father's death in 1483, under the protection of their uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester. Preparations began for Edward's coronation but in the event it was their uncle who was crowned in his place as Richard III. The princes remained in the Tower for a time and then disappeared from view. Much has been written about their fate, mainly in order to prove or disprove Richard's involvement in their deaths, but no conclusive evidence has been produced. Even the bones of two children found buried close to the White Tower in 1674, which were officially reburried in Westminster Abbey as the remains of the princes, cannot be positively identified.
There have, however, been two authenticated cases of violent death within the Bloody Tower. In 1585 the 8th Earl of Northumerland shot himself to escape conviction for treason and the forfeiture of his lands to Elizabeth I. In James I's reign, in scandalous circumstances that touched the King himself, Sir Thomas Overbury was poisoned while a prisoner there. 