Camelot International > Tower of London

Legend has it that should the ravens ever leave the Tower of London the White Tower will crumble and a great disaster shall befall England. For many centuries ravens have been known to be residents of the Tower of London and are now an integral feature protected by royal decree. It is not clear at what point in history the ravens became an accepted occupant of the Tower of London but there seems to be evidence dating back to King Charles 11 during the seventeenth century. It is said that while Charles was stargazing from the new Tower observatory in the north-east turret of the White Tower he found his view obscured by bird droppings on the telescope. Flying into a rage the king gave orders for the ravens to be immediately destroyed only to be told of the legend that without the ravens the Tower, the monarchy and indeed the kingdom itself would fall. During the delicate times following the English civil war, superstition or not Charles was not prepared to take the chance of any further disruption in England and spared the ravens but had the observatory moved to Greenwich.

A strange point of fact is that the only recorded time that there were no ravens at the Tower was in 1946. As this was just after World War II and England had come perilously close to falling maybe the legend carries some weight after all.



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