Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Discovering Tudor London: A Journey Back in Time > Status Update

‘There is one more important Tudor tomb to note, another easily missed by visitors to the abbey, that of Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, who Mary I had buried in a most honoured position, on the south side of the High Altar... Ironically, Anne, the most overlooked of Henry VIII’s queens, is the only one of his wives to be buried in Westminster Abbey.’

‘crowned King Henry VIII on 24 June 1509, in a joint coronation ceremony that saw Katherine fulfil her lifelong dream of becoming England’s queen. In keeping with tradition, the coronation was followed by a magnificent banquet at Westminster Hall, where newly crowned monarchs had been honoured for more than 300 years, and where they would continue to be so, until the nineteenth century.’

‘In front of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula stands an evocative circular memorial to the people who were executed inside the Tower, including five Tudor women all beheaded for treason... However, it does not mark the site of the original scaffold, which stood on the north side of the White Tower, close to the entrance of the Waterloo Barracks and Crown Jewels Exhibition.’

‘the Guildhall was the setting for a number of important state trials in the sixteenth century, including those of Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper, both charged with high treason for their alleged affairs with Queen Catherine Howard; Anne Askew, the Protestant martyr; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, a first cousin of both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard; Lady Jane Grey and her husband’

‘During the reign of Henry VII, Eltham served as a royal nursery where the future Henry VIII was raised and educated, alongside his sisters Margaret and Mary. It is uncertain as to whether the first of the Tudor monarchs made any significant additions or alterations to the palace complex, however, his son and successor certainly did, including the building of new privy apartments for himself’

‘At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Tudor London was a bustling city of around 60,000 inhabitants. The City came under the jurisdiction of the lord major and sheriffs of London, whose job it was to maintain order and cleanliness. It was the most prosperous city in England, on account of it being a flourishing trading centre and an important port, and was by far the largest city in the country’