Ravens of the Tower of London

A group of six captive ravens live at the Tower of London. Their presence is traditionally believed to protect the Crown and the tower; a superstition holds that "if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it".

Historically, wild ravens were common throughout Britain, even in towns, the tower being within their natural range. When they were exterminated from much of their traditional range, including London, they could only exist at the tower in captivity and with official support. Local legend puts the origin of the captive raven population at the time of King Charles II (reigned 1660–85). Some historians believe the "tower's raven mythology is likely to be a Victorian flight of fantasy". The ravens at the tower were specially bred in Somerset.

One of the earliest legends that connects the Tower with a raven is the tale of the euhemerised mutually destructive battle against the Irish king Matholwch who had mistreated the British princess Branwen. Branwen's brother Bendigeidfran (King of the Britons) ordered his followers to cut off his head and bury it beneath the White Hill (where the Tower now stands) facing out towards France as a talisman to protect Britain from foreign invasion.

According to folklore, wild ravens are thought to have inhabited the Tower for many centuries, supposedly first attracted there by the smell of the corpses of the executed enemies of the Crown. Allegedly, at the execution of Anne Boleyn in 1535, "Even the ravens of the Tower sat silent and immovable on the battlements and gazed eerily at the strange scene. A Queen about to die!" The ravens of the Tower supposedly behaved much worse during the execution of Lady Jane Grey in 1554, allegedly "pecking the eyes from the severed head" of the queen.

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