Now I don’t generally work on London Marathon day (“the noise! and the people!”), but this year found me doing a tour of an almost empty Tower of London, the castle echoing to the cheers of thousands of onlookers who were watching the runners go over Tower Bridge.
And it was fortunate that I did. Because this was also the day of the ‘Tudor Pull’, and I was right on the inner battlements as the Royal Bargemaster was granted entry to the Tower.
This is one of those seemingly ancient London traditions that isn’t quite as old as it seems (see also the opening ceremony at the Tower). It appears to have started in 1987 and was given a boost after Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee in 2012.
That was when a new royal barge – Gloriana – was built, taking pride of place in the jubilee’s River Pageant when 670 boats progressed down the Thames from Wandsworth to Tower Bridge. (As someone who stood by the river watching it, I can affirm that it was a great event, albeit soaking wet – it poured with rain all day.)
On the Tudor Pull Gloriana heads a flotilla of cutters – traditional Thames rowing boats – crewed by members of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen and other members of City of London Guilds, from Hampton Court Palace to Tower Bridge.
Gloriana carries the stela, a slice of an ancient wooden water pipe, which is then presented to the Governor of the Tower. The event is to symbolise the role of the Thames as a highway, and of the importance of drinking water to the capital (and as such, the Master of the Guild of Water Conservators is one of the people who presents the stela).
There is the video I took of the event below, and you can read more about past events (and see some pictures of the flotillas) here, here and here. And if you want to see Gloriana, the barge is usually moored up in St Katherine Docks by the Tower.
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