Secrets & Espionage

Where the state kept its secrets and where the spies were made up: the bugged mansion, the bunkers, the headquarters you can only look at, the memorials to the agents, and the addresses of Bond and Smiley.

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Tower of London

Where eleven German spies were shot in the first war and Josef Jakobs in the second, the last man executed at the Tower, in a chair in the rifle range.

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Photo by Bob Collowan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Museums and Royal London and Power & Politics.

The Tower held Rudolf Hess for four days in 1941 and executed spies in both wars: eleven German agents were shot in the miniature rifle range between 1914 and 1916, and Josef Jakobs, who parachuted into a Huntingdonshire field with a broken ankle in January 1941, was shot there in August, sitting in a Windsor chair because he could not stand - the chair is in the Royal Armouries. The spies are the footnote to a fortress that has held the state's secrets and prisoners for nine centuries; the Crown Jewels and the ravens are the rest.

Where
Tower Hill, EC3N 4AB
Nearest station
Tower Hill · 2 min walk

Step-free access

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Hours

Monday10:00 – 17:30
Tuesday09:00 – 17:30
Wednesday09:00 – 17:30
Thursday09:00 – 17:30
Friday09:00 – 17:30
Saturday09:00 – 17:30
Sunday10:00 – 17:30

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 5 September 2026.

Last entry an hour before closing; shorter hours from November to February.

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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