Throughout history, the Tower of London has not typically been a place people wanted to visit. After all, pain and suffering is something most of us want to avoid. However, back in May, when our gracious hosts offered to take us to the Tower, I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve always been curious about the Tower of London and was excited to see it in person. So, as we began our visit to London on a bright and beautiful May day, this historic landmark was our first stop.
The Tower of London in Real Life
Turns out, the Tower is nothing like I’d pictured it. I had imagined it to be a slim high rise in downtown London, tucked in somewhere near Big Ben, Parliament or Buckingham Palace. Instead, the Tower is more like a fortress within a fortress, occupying about twelve acres near a completely different subway stop than those other historic sites.
With nearly 1000 years of history at the Tower, it is nigh upon impossible to take it all in in one visit. Built in the 1070s AD by William the Conqueror, the original tower was a tall white fortress designed as an impressive display of dominance over his newly conquered city. This original building is known as “The White Tower.”
Built as a fortress and also used as a royal residence, subsequent rulers added to the site, creating more rings of walls and buildings.
A moat was also built around the Tower, for both plumbing and additional defense purposes. During our May visit, the moat was filled with flowers, but, back in the day, it was filled with, well, let’s just say some less agreeable items.
It was a stinking mess. That moat, designed to flush plumbing wastes to the sea (!!!) was in actuality a cesspool.
The Tower was barely a quarter century old when it began to be used as a prison. History says Ranulf Flambard was the earliest unlucky victim, though he figured out a way to escape. Future prisoners – of war, politics, religion, or a ruler’s caprice – were not so fortunate. As the medieval ages unfolded, the Tower was a place to avoid by all means possible, not just for its smell, but for its sadistic nature.
The Tower became notorious for brutal imprisonment, torture and executions. As I began to follow the threads of stories surrounding the Tower, I found a quote by one prisoner Margaret Cheyne, whose sisters later wrote that she “vowed that she would rather be torn to pieces than go to London,” that was, the Tower of London. Her statement was not hyperbole. In fact, when Margaret was finally captured and imprisoned there, her worst nightmares came true when she was burned at the stake while her husband was simultaneously hung and decapitated. The Tower was no joke.
So while human excrement floated around the Tower’s external walls, human cruelty festered within. Depending on the reigning monarch’s whim, the place was either a palace or a prison – or both. One day, you could be in a lavish guestroom preparing for a pompous dinner; the next day you could be in a loathsome cell awaiting a gruesome death.
The Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula
Tucked into a corner of the tower of London, there is a very small (compared to what we would later see on our trip) chapel.
In the 1500s, the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula was built within the tower complex. Somebody must have felt entirely clever when they named it, given that “ad vincula” means “in chains.” The chapel’s name purportedly commemorates Peter’s imprisonment in Jerusalem.
While I am certain that over the centuries, people have genuinely worshiped within its walls, I could not. Being in that chapel made me think more about those executed and buried in and around ad Vincula than the Lord.
Though regular services are still held there, I would have a hard time worshiping God at St. Peter ad Vincula on a regular basis. I just could not get past the brutality of the Tower to appreciate the beauty and sanctity of its chapel.
The juxtaposition of the “sacred” to the sadistic was just too much. Despite its majesty and splendor, that chapel felt godless to me.
But God…
Finding God in Hard Places
Thing is, even in the worst, most desperate, dark places, the Lord God can be found there, too. The Apostle Peter encountered God in the most difficult places, during his own imprisonment. And, as I walked through the Tower and the chapel, I began to discover a trail of other people’s lives whose stories proclaim the same truth. These people captivated me, and I have spent a great deal of time studying and learning about their stories ever since. Their testimonies of faith and of holding onto Jesus has taken my own faith to a new level.
Men like Thomas Moore and Thomas Cranmer, and women like Lady Jane Grey and Anne Askew, left behind testimonies that profoundly impacted me.
Anne Askew, in particular, captivated me. She was a 25-year old woman who was brutalized at the Tower. She was tortured on the racks because of her Protestant faith, Calvinist beliefs and evangelical preaching. Though stretched limb from limb in at least three torture sessions, she would neither renounce her faith nor give up the names of her sisters in Christ. Following these terrible rounds of racking, Anne was carried to an execution site and there burned to death with three men (at least one of whom was also a Protestant martyr).
Stories like hers reverberate now, as they certainly reverberated in prior centuries. Thing is, though Anne and other Christ followers were imprisoned, tortured and executed at (or near) the Tower, along the way, they found their fortress and refuge in an ever stronger tower: in the Name of the Lord God, for whom they lived and died.
Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”
But – – – how can one be “safe” when horrors surround and await you?
How can one be “safe” when you will never again walk free?
How can one be “safe” when you are powerless to escape your circumstances?
How can one be “safe” when the Tower you are in is humanly inescapable?
I found within these martyrs’ stories an answer to those questions. I found within their testimonies a hope and a freedom that surpasses what this world offers.
The Story that Shines Greater than the Tower
Praise God, my life contains nothing like the brutality of the Tower. However, like the Tower’s many victims, I do have difficult situations and circumstances of my life that I cannot run away from. The question is, who will I run to?
That morning at the Tower, the sadness of the place overwhelmed me. For sure, one could easily walk through as a tourist and be fascinated and horrified, yet remain detached. However, my goal throughout our trip of a lifetime was to have eyes to see, not just on a tourist level, but on a spiritual level.
Yes, the tales of the Tower’s darkness are as rank as legends of the sewage-filled moat. And yet, even there, in one of history’s darkest places, I found a shining truth – a truth I would see over and over and over during our time in England and Scotland.
Death, torture, brutality, cruelty – – – none of these things win when Jesus is welcomed into the story.
That day at the Tower, we had a ticket time awaiting us at St. Paul’s Cathedral, so we didn’t tarry extra long. Indeed, I felt more than ready to take leave free from the oppressive place.
However, I carry with me still the reminder to run to the Name of the Lord, the strong Tower that beckons to me as a place to not just visit, but to stay.
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