Jewel Tower

#98

A rare survivor of medieval Westminster: a stone keep (c.1360s) tucked behind Parliament. Three compact floors explain its shifts—from royal strongroom to the nation’s weights-and-measures office. It’s a 30-minute time capsule with better storytelling than you expect.

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Opening Hours

Sunday: 10:00 – 17:00

Monday: 10:00 – 17:00

Tuesday: 10:00 – 17:00

Wednesday: 10:00 – 17:00

Thursday: 10:00 – 17:00

Friday: 10:00 – 17:00

Saturday: 10:00 – 17:00

What's not to miss inside?

Medieval Strongroom

Built to guard royal valuables

Thick walls, slit windows and original timbers show a palace that mostly vanished in later centuries.

Stand by a window embrasure and imagine a clerk checking seals by candlelight.

📍 Lower floors

Standards of Weight & Measure

How Britain kept trade honest

After the royals moved on, precision moved in—official yardsticks and gallon measures lived here.

Find one standard you’ve used today (litres, yards) and trace its ancestor in the cases.

📍 Upper exhibit space

Parliament in Miniature

A quiet counterpoint to the Palace next door

Panels link the tower’s survival to fires and rebuilds that reshaped Westminster.

Do this after a Parliament photo stop; the contrast in scale makes the story land.

📍 Throughout

Café Nook & Garden Seats

Pause in a medieval footprint

A rare calm pocket in Westminster for a short reset.

Sketch the tower outline; note how unapologetically functional medieval design can be.

📍 Ground floor & outside

🤓 Fun Facts

Built for Edward III in the 1360s, the tower outlived the 1834 fire that destroyed most of the old Palace of Westminster.

From the 1860s the tower housed the Board of Trade’s standards—official yard and pound prototypes that underpinned fair commerce.

It’s one of only two major survivors of the medieval palace—the other is Westminster Hall.

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