After an excellent lunch, we were treated to a talk by David Morton, about The Tower of London – a journey through its history up to the present. He began with a slide showing the 2014 display, in the grassed-over Moat, of nearly 900,000 ceramic poppies, representing British and Commonwealth military fatalities in WW1. He then showed us a plan of the area known as “The Tower”, which in fact covers 18 acres and includes several buildings and the Moat. Over its history it has been a royal residence, the headquarters of the Royal Mint, that of the Treasury, the Public Records Office, an armoury, the site of a menagerie (early 1200s to early 1800s), and is now the home of the Crown Jewels. Before the twentieth century, only 7 people had been executed at the Tower but during the two world wars there were further executions, for treason and spying. However, it has become less sinister since then and in 1974 UNESCO designated it as a ‘place of historic interest’. In fact, in 2017, 13.1 million people visited it. Much more was described (including the presence of the ravens!) and there were a good number of questions after this excellent talk. David was thanked by our Chairman, Michael Webb.
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