Tower of London

Elizabeth was born in Greenwich Palace on 7 September. During 1554 she became a prisoner in the Tower of London on the orders of her half-sister Mary. It is said that on her release she had a meal in a Mark Lane tavern and gave thanks at the church of All Hallows Staining, of which only the tower remains. Elizabeth was welcomed as the new queen at Highgate in November 1558. The Bishop of Ely was ordered to let part of his property to her favourite Christopher Hatton where he built a house in 1577. There are the remains of a cherry tree in the corner of the Mitre Tavern around which the queen is said to have danced. There is a plaque at Deptford Strand marking where Francis Drake was knighted by the queen on return from his voyage. Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge (actually built in 1543) stands on Rangers Road in Chingford. This timber framed building which would have overlooked Epping Forest became a house in 1666 and was acquired by the Corporation of London in 1878. The Tudor palace of Hampton Court is open to the public. Elizabeth's death on 24 March at Richmond Palace is recorded on a plaque in Old Palace Lane. She was taken to Whitehall and buried in Westminster Abbey where she has a white marble effigy. There is also a figure of her in the Abbey's Undercroft Museum and a statue outside St Dunstan's in the West Church in Fleet Street.

Brackie