Andy Mossack descends into the Tower Vaults to experience what it was like to be in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605.
I’m deep under the Tower of London wearing a hooded cloak trying to solve a code by the dim light of a candle lantern. I’m normally pretty good at puzzle solving, but the horrific screams and chain clanging nearby are a little off-putting to be honest.
Such is life for a novice detective trying to foil the Gunpowder Plot. A fiendish attempt to blow up King James I at the state opening of Parliament on November 5th, 1605.
Fortunately, I have others in our group who are a little better at concentrating and pretty soon we’ve cracked it and scuttle through a door in the dim light, just in time before the Tower guards arrive.
This encounter lit the touchpaper on a thrilling 90-minute journey through a very dark time in England’s history, when persecuted Roman Catholics tried to reverse fanatical Presbyterianism by killing the Protestant King James I. The failed plot became legendary when the King ruled the date should be celebrated by a bonfire party each year. “Remember, remember the 5th of November” is still celebrated by fireworks and bonfires in the UK to this day.
This is a state-of-the-art experience made all the more eerie because the conspirators were actually imprisoned in the Tower above you before they were executed. It’s a combination of live acting, virtual reality, movie quality sets, and multi-sensory effects courtesy of a system called Layered Reality.. The same people who created Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds Experience.
And it it really is a remarkable experience.
The ancient flag stoned vaults of the Tower add to the authenticity of course with history seeping from every crevice. It is fantasy gaming, next level escape room heaven, from start to finish.
We all know how it ends of course, but you forget all that as you are haplessly sucked into the plot as your opportunity to escape the Tower presents itself. Or does it?
Right from the off you are on a relentless mission to escape, following behind the person leading you to freedom from your imprisonment. Through 24 interactive scenes, your fate is played out by either live actors performing on Hollywood grade sets and costumes, or you’re donning VR headsets and sitting on motion simulators to fly across the streets of 17th century London, sneaking along the Thames in a boat loaded with gunpowder or walking along the roof of Parliament and the battlements of the Tower.
It was such an adrenalin rush I was glad of the short break and quick drink halfway through. Our group gathered drinks and sat together in the mock-up of the Duck and Drake pub where the original conspirators planned out the Plot. It was here (without giving anything away) we decided as a group whether or not to join the plotters or betray them to the Crown guards.
This is an attraction as equally entertaining for singles as it is for families and groups, and if you bring the kids, they’ll get a history lesson they won’t forget in a hurry.
I emerged back into the present day drained but equally stoked after a 90-minute immersive experience that was well worth every penny of the admission price.
Images (C) Tom Powell Photography and Mark Dawson Photography,
Tell me more about The Gunpowder Plot Experience
The Gunpowder Plot Experience, 8-12 Tower Hill Vaults, London, EC3N 4EE
Tickets are available here for the Gunpowder Plot Experience with prices starting at £30 per person. Only for children aged 10 and over. Family tickets are available. Groups of four or more can purchase tickets at the reduced price of £37.50 per person when bought together, as part of Layered Reality’s Ground Bundle offer.
