Traitors' Gate

Traitors' gate is just below the St Thomas Tower. When the tower was constructed, the Thames was more of a highway than it is at present, and this gate was often used as an entrance to the Tower. In later times it was found convenient as a landing place for prisoners who had been tried at Westminster. Here successively Edward, Duke of Buckingham (1521), Sir Thomas More, Queen Anne Boleyn, Cromwell, Earl of Essex, Queen Katharine Howard (1542), Seymour, Duke of Somerset (1551), Lady Jane Grey, the Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth, Devereux, Earl of Essex (1601) and James, Duke of Monmouth, passed under the arch on their way to prison or the scaffold.