[MR] More on the Tower

[Garth G. Groff]

  M'Lord Donal,

They are officially known as Yeoman Warders, as per the scenario. They 
sometimes called Gentlemen Warders, unofficially. This may be somewhat 
modified today, as there has been a woman among them since 2007. (Last 
time I was at the tower in 2004, one of the Warders was quite adamant no 
woman would be, or should be, admitted. I guess he had to eat his words. 
Maybe he was one of the two who were canned for harassing their female 
colleague. It is a civil service position, and is open to anyone who 
meets the requirements.) In any case, I used the term "Beefeater" since 
that is how they are commonly known to the public. Probably shouldn't 
have. Thanks for pointing this out.

Lady Sarah and I witnessed the Ceremony of the Keys in 2000 on our first 
trip to England. As I remember it, the sentry did not come "on guard", 
but did move to "port arms" (that's the U.S. military term for the 
weapon held at an angle across the soldier's chest, IIRC from my own 
drill days 30 some years ago). Upon response to his challenge, he 
returned to right shoulder arms and attention. There was a considerable 
amount of boot stomping on his part. It is a wonder the Brits don't all 
have bad knees and crushed heels. I also witnessed this boot stomping by 
the sentries at the Jewel House as well.

In point of fact, the position is open to retired members of any of 
Britain's military services, and those of the Commonwealth, except the 
Royal Navy. They must be NCOs (or warrant officers, I think) with 22 
years service, and certain other marks of service distinction.

And they have their own pub (so I have read) buried someplace in the 
Tower complex where the public isn't generally allowed.

For those who are interested, here is another Wikipedia article just on 
the Warders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoman_Warders .

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot

On 9/29/2010 11:57 AM, jbrmm266 at aol.com wrote:
>
> I've seen depictions of the Ceremony on different occasions; the 
> aggressiveness of the sentry seems to vary.  In one video from the 
> 60s, the sentry remains at attention but come to port arms and calls 
> out:  "Halt, Who Comes There?" The exchange then proceeds as you 
> descirbed.
> More recently, it seems to have become more militaristic, as I saw in 
> a recent documentary:
> Sentry (bringing his assault rife to a ready position and crouching, 
> looking like he's ready to open fire): HALT!
> CYW:  Escort with the Keys, Halt!
> S (aggressively):  Who Comes There?
> CYW:  The Keys!
> S:  Whose Keys?
> CYW: Queen Elizabeth's Keys.
> S (returning to attention and shouldering his weapon.)  Pass, Queen 
> Elizabeth's Keys.  All's well!
> CYW:   Escort with the Keys, Quick, March!  (The Escort marches on.)
> The documentary showed the CYW briefing the sentry earlier in the 
> day.  He was a hard-faced fellow, a Londoner, from the sound of his voice.
> The CYW was not wearing his dress reds, but he WAS wearing a longish 
> red coat over his working blues.  I think that's a standard 
> cold-weather issue for the YWs, many of whom are getting up in years.  
> the youngest age at which one can become a YW is the late thirties, 
> since one must have done 21 years in the Army or Air Force to be 
> eligible.  Sailors and Marines apparently don't qualify.  Their 
> mandatory retirement age is 65, so one could do two rather different 
> careers in two rather different outfits.
> And they DON't like being called Beefeaters.
> Yours aye
> Donal
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Garth G. Groff <ggg9y at virginia.edu>
> To: Atlantia at atlantia.sca.org; isenfir at virginia.edu
> Sent: Wed, Sep 29, 2010 7:59 am
> Subject: [MR] More on the Tower
>
> Noble friends,
>
> In my recent post, I mentioned the Ceremony of the Keys, which is the 
> ritual closing of the Tower gate every night. On a whim I searched 
> this on Wikipedia, and found a page which describes this ceremony ( 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremony_of_the_keys ). This is performed 
> nightly, and is open to the public. A limited number of free "tickets" 
> are available for each night, and they may be obtained by writing at 
> least two months in advance to the governor of the Tower, stating how 
> many tickets are required and for which night. It all takes place 
> outdoors (between the Traitors' Gate and the Bloody Tower, then onto 
> the steps up to the Inner Ward just beyond the Bloody Tower), so wear 
> warm clothes. We were also treated to a ghost story by the Chief 
> Yeoman Warder before being directed out through the postern gate 
> (which is left unlocked, thankfully).
>
> If you don't want to take the time to visit the Wiki site, here is the 
> text from the part of that page on the Tower (there were no graphics):
>
> "Probably the best known such ceremony is the one that takes place 
> every night at the Tower of London 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London>, and has done so in 
> some form or another since the 14th century. At exactly 9.53pm, the 
> Chief Yeoman Warder, dressed in Tudor 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_period> Watchcoat, meets the 
> Military Escort, made up of members of the Tower of London Guard 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Guard>. Together, the CYW and 
> the Yeoman Warder 'Watchman' secure the main gates of the Tower. Upon 
> their return down Water Lane, the party is halted by the sentry 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentry> and challenged to identify 
> themselves:
>
>   Sentry: /Who comes there?/
>   Chief Warder: /The keys./
>   S: /Whose keys?/
>   CW: /Queen Elizabeth's keys./ (identifying the keys as being those
>   of the current British monarch
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_monarchy>)
>   S: /Pass Queen Elizabeth's Keys. All's well./
>
> "Following this, the party makes its way through the Bloody Tower 
> Archway into the fortress, where they halt at the bottom of the 
> Broadwalk Steps. On the top of the Stairs, under the command of their 
> Officer, the Tower guard present arms and the Chief Warder raises his 
> hat, proclaiming:
>
>   CW: /God preserve Queen Elizabeth./
>   S: /Amen!/
>
> "He then takes the keys to the Queen's House for safekeeping, while 
> the Last Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Post> is sounded."
>
> Of course, the Chief Yeoman Warder is dressed in his red Beefeater 
> tunic (today most of the warders wear a simple navy blue tunic for 
> daily duties, and red is reserved for special occasions).
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot
>
>
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