Visiting the Tower of London - in the sixteenth century

In 1578, the Privy Council ordered the Lieutenant to show a German visitor who wanted to visit the Tower of London ‘suche thinges as are usuallie showed therein’,  so tours for dignitaries must have already been standard practice.  An Elizabeth visitor called Thomas Platter had to pay no less than eight gratuities at different stages in his visit.

In 1741, Horace Walpole recommended a visit to the Tower of London: ‘There are a thousand pretty things to amuse you: the lions, the Armoury, the Crown, King Harry’s cod-piece, and the axe that beheaded Anne Boleyn.  I design to make interest for the room where the two Princes were smothered’.

A new system

Gradually, the informal system of gratuities was replaced by ticketing and ticket offices.  Controlling the masses was a concern for the gruff old Duke of Wellington.  ‘Who is to prevent some thousands each with a shilling from going there if they please and when there for doing what they please?’ he complained in 1837, when there was a move to allow the paying public to enter in replacement of the old system of limited free passes combined with gratuities to the staff.