Entrance Floor
As the White Tower is set into rising ground, the Entrance Floor is above ground level and reached by a modern wooden staircase on the south face of the building.
The Entrance Floor contains: Reception, The Small Armoury, The Spanish Armoury and the Line of Kings.
The exhibits on this floor celebrate the great historic displays on the site – from the trophies of the late 17th century Grand Storehouse to racks of service weapons in the 18th and 19th centuries.
On the West side of the gallery is a modern scale model of the Grand Storehouse, completed in 1692 and destroyed by fire in 1841. You can peep in through the windows and catch a glimpse of its lost fantastical displays.
The Eastern side of the floor houses recreations of two of the Tower’s most famous original displays – the Line of Kings and the Spanish Armoury. Set up in 1660 to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, the Line of Kings can claim to be the oldest dedicated public display in Britain. Sadly the horses currently lack their armoured riders, but there are plans to restore them.
In the Chapel Crypt, the Spanish Armoury contains a number of fearsome weapons originally said to have been brought over with the Spanish Armada of 1588, as well as the block and axe. The block was added to the display in 1839, and is said to be the one used at the last public beheading on Tower Hill – the execution of the Jacobite Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat in 1747.
Look out for the giant and dwarf armours. The “giant” armour is a world record holder, reckoned to be the tallest suit of human armour currently on display at 2.057m (6ft 8 in).
Notable objects located in this gallery
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Block and axe
The axe is 16th century while the block is later and was used at the execution of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, in 1747.
Dates from 1747 | Object number: XV.1, 3
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Giant armour
The Giant armour. German, Brunswick, about 1540
Dates from 1540 | Object number: II.22, XVII.42
