Overview

Beyond the Deepening Shadow: The Tower Remembers marks the centenary of the end of the First World War. Each evening, between 5pm and 9pm, the moat of the Tower of London is illuminated with thousands of individual flames in an act of rememberance. The Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters) light the first flame and then a team of volunteers light the rest of the flames, During the ceremony music is played, a new choral work, with words from War Poet Mary Borden’s Sonnets to a Soldier. The display ends at 9pm each evening. There are 2 ways to view the event. Firstly there are tickets which provide access to the moat. These tickets are now sold out. There are excelllent access arrangements for people doing this and deserve 5 stars. There is also free public viewing from Tower Hill and the Tower concourse, this is what I did on the Monday evening, and this is what I will comment about in my review. There appears to be no special arrangments for disabled people viewing from the free viewing points, as all people have to join the same queue. UPDATE 08/11/2019: I contacted the Tower of London to ask if they could improve the accessibility for people in the free viewing areas by allowing those who need it not to queue up. I would suggest asking a steward about accessibility if you are unable to stand in the queue. The next day they replied saying " Thank you for your kind words and for providing us with such detailed feedback of your experience at the Tower Remembers. I have forwarded your message on to the event organiser so they can review this process for the remaining nights and future events. " I hope this helps people who are visiting later this week. UPDATE 13/11/2018: Following on from contacting the Tower of London I received a 2nd email on 12/11/2018. This one was from their visitors' centre. Their reply was "We learnt much from the incredible public response to it, which included huge numbers of people coming to Tower Hill to see it. I am very sorry that you did not find the access area until later in your visit after you had queued. Stewards at the entrance to the queue barrier should have been looking for and telling people about the area. We had some stewards specifically dedicated to doing this but the sheer volume meant that we missed you. I can only apologise for this. I will certainly be feeding your experience into the review process for the project." I've been very pleased with the Tower of London's response to my comments as a disabled visitor.

Transport & Parking

The nearest tube station is Tower Hill which has a lift between street and platform. Step free bus numbers 15, 42, 78, 100 and RV1 all stop near to the Tower of London.

Access

TICKETED MOAT AREA: Access arrangements for people with tickets to go inside the moat, as listed on the Tower of London's website, are excellent, and deserve 5 stars. It states that "the route through the installation is a step-free path that is approximately 900 metres long and covered with trakway. It has been designed to be accessible for all visitors and will have a ramp at the entrance and exit for easy accessibility." There are "audio described sessions for visually impaired visitors 06 and 07 November at 18:00 and 19:00. You will be asked to meet your guide 30 minutes before your timeslot. Transcripts of the Yeoman Warder introductions at the start of each time slot will be available with large-print versions. There will be a BSL interpreter on site on the 09 November who will be signing introductions for the 18:00 and 19:00 sessions. During time slots when there is no interpreter, transcripts (small and large print) will be available for the Yeoman Warder introductions at the start of each time slot. (They) have lanyards available if you would like to discreetly alert event staff to the fact that you may need extra time, help, or assistance." FREE VIEWING ACCESS FROM TOWER HILL AND TOWER CONCOURSE: I arrived about 8.15pm, so was there for the last 45 minutes of the evening. When I arrived the area was crowded. From Tower Hill I managed to get to the front of the railings and was able to look down on the installation from street level. This provided a good view, but there was a lower path with people on it so it felt a little distant. Also from street level at Tower Hill there are trees and shrubs so there is not an uninterupted view. I then walked round to the Tower Concourse. The Tower Concourse is on a slope. There are information boards here about the event, however there is no reference on them to accessibility. To view the moat from here there was a large queue, this was at 8.15pm, so I assume it may well have been even busier earlier on. The area is fenced off so it involves walking up and down the length of the concourse several times to reach the area adjacent to the moat. At the entrance to the fenced off area there was a steward, my disability is visable but she didn't offer an alternative route for me to take. Luckily when I got parallel to the exit, the steward saw me and opened the fence and let me through so I went via the exit. Looking down from the Tower Concourse there is no seats. I found a space to view and I decided to stay there for the rest of the evening and I found it deeply moving.

Toilets

There are public accessible toilets on Tower Hill, which are open 24 hours a day and operated using a RADAR key. A Changing Places toilet is also be available at Petty Wales on Tower Hill on the event dates.

Staff

As mentioned above I really appriciate the steward who let me in via the exit. I know it's busy and crowded but it would be helpful if stewards were more proactive when they see a disabled person queuing up, as given it was so busy I felt awkward to ask if there was arrangements for disabled people knowing that others would be queuing up for a while.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Beyond the Deepening Shadow is well worth visiting.

Photos