Black Birds of Doom

The famous ravens of the Tower of London add a primeval presence that the building itself - for all its being steeped in history, legend and ceremony - strangely seems to lack. Like everything else in the Tower, of course, they are heavily exploited by the tourist industry, but perhaps because the ravens do not themselves worry about commerce, they are largely immune to its power to trivialise or demean. The birds are cared for by the Yeoman Raven Master and allowed the run of the grounds, but their feathers on one wing are clipped to prevent them from flying far away. Yeoman Warders who work as tour guides tell visitors that nobody knows when the ravens first arrived at the Tower. What they really mean is that the ravens live in a world beyond time, the 'once upon a time...' of fairy tales.