'Liberties of the Tower' and Tower Liberties Boundary Markers

Liberties of the Tower plaque.

At various distances from the walls of the Tower of London, there were thirty-one Liberty Markers, of which twenty-two can still be found (I believe). These markers denoted the outer limits of the 'Liberties of the Tower'.

The Tower Liberties area was an administrative and defensive zone set up around the Tower of London, separating it from the City of London.

This 'Liberties of the Tower' area was to be kept free of buildings, so that those in the Tower of London could see any approaching forces, and was set up after 1200.

Marker Number 23, Tower Hill Garden.

The boundary points were placed in an arc around the Tower of London, at a distance of an arrow's flight from its walls.

The Tower of London ran its own courthouse and police force and, in 1687, the people, living within the Liberties, were granted certain special privileges. These included being able to claim any beast that fell from London Bridge and freedom from the jurisdiction of the City of London.

In 1644, William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was born in the Liberty and was later baptised in the church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower.

The Tower Liberties was dissolved in 1894, but the tradition of checking the boundaries still continues.

Marker Number 10, in the Four Seasons Hotel London.

Every three years, on Ascension Day, the Yeoman Warders from the Tower of London, also known as Beefeaters, still lead a procession around each of the twenty-two markers, which are beaten with sticks. This is called the 'Beating of the Bounds' and was traditionally a way to remind the inhabitants of the Liberties where the boundary lay.

They even enter the 'Four Seasons Hotel London' at Ten Trinity Square, where marker number ten can be found. 

'Beating the Bounds' is not just carried out at the Tower of London. Many English parishes still observe this ancient custom and reaffirm their parish boundaries every year, but not necessarily on Ascension Day. 

These include: All Hallows-by-the-Tower, Chesham Bois, Chaldon, Macclesfield, Okehampton, Patterdale and Streatham.