Jewel Tower London
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Jewel Tower is one of historical attraction site in London. It is a section of the royal Palace of Westminster which still survives. It is well known that there are only two sections of the Palace that remain the same until now, the other one being the Westminster Hall. Sometimes, people confuse the Jewel Tower with the Jewel House which houses the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London when in fact they are two different places.
Jewel Tower was built in 1365 to 1366 initially as the store building for the private fortune of King Edward III, hence the name. Hundreds of years after its construction, the Tower’s function changed into the records office for the House of Lords in the 17th century. Later, in 1869 to 1936, the Tower became the home of the Board’s Standards Department.
The Jewel Tower London
The Jewel Tower is a three-storey building which is located at the southern end of the Palace of Westminster, the home of British Parliament. The Tower is not joint to the main buildings which is the sole reason why the Tower survived the great fire which destroyed most of the Palace in 1834.
The Tower has an L-shape which is the result of King Edward’s wish that the Tower should not ruin the design of his garden. It was designed by Henry Yevele, a master mason who was also responsible for the reconstruction of several buildings in Westminster.
The ground floor of the Tower exhibits human faces, sixteen bosses of animals, and green men while the first floor exhibits “Parliament Past and Present”. The second floor tells the history about the Jewel Tower in detail. There are also artefacts such as an Anglo Saxon sword, speaker’s robes, and Norman stone capitals.
A refurbishment was done in April 2013 to make the exhibitions friendlier for foreign visitors and safer as well as more fun for children.
Facilities and Access
There is no parking lot available so you may want to plan another way of visiting the Tower. There is a small coffee shop where you can relax while enjoying hot drinks and some snacks. There is also a gift shop selling souvenirs and gifts related to English Heritage. These places are all wheelchair accessible.
There are no toilets on site so visitors may need to prepare themselves before visiting. The nearest toilets are at Westminster underground station which is five minutes away by foot.
Visiting the Jewel Tower
The Jewel Tower is located in Abingdon Street, Westminster, London. There is no parking lot available in the site and the closest parking site is roughly 400 meters away. You can access the Tower by bus and train. The closest train stations are St James’s Park and Victoria which are ten and fifteen minutes away from the Tower.
Opening hours:
Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 04 pm.
The Tower is closed on 24,25, and 26 December for Christmas and 31 December and 1 January for New Year.
Ticket prices:
Member : free (membership can be obtained online)
Adult : £3.90
Child (5-15 y.o.) : £2.30
Concession : £3.50
Jewel Tower Address
Abingdon St, London,
Westminster SW1P 3JX, United Kingdom
Website : english-heritage.org.uk
Phone +44 370 333 1181
