The raven stopped pecking the eyeball in the severed head and listened to the voice carried on the wind’
So begins Chapter 2 of Tower of Vengeance. Throughout the book my central character, Maude, is accompanied by a raven called Erin ‘her canny bird’ who can wake the dead. Erin is based on my favourite Tower of London raven who sadly is no longer with us. My logo and the raven in the book are my tribute to her.
The Tower of London legend decrees that there should be six ravens present within its walls at all times otherwise The Tower falls and the Kingdom falls – scary stuff! Suffice to say the Tower has six resident ravens and at least one spare who are wonderfully looked after by the Ravenmaster and his team. I am lucky enough to be friends with the rather fabulous Christopher Skaife, ex-Ravenmaster, who has been incredibly informative and giving of his raven knowledge. Through him I have really got to understand these amazing, clever, birds (I highly recommend his book The Ravenmaster). I am not going to bore you with all the fab facts about ravens but I am going to tell you about my raven friend, Erin.
I can't remember when I first struck up a friendship with Erin. Before her, I had interacted mainly with the lovely Hugine and of course Merlina, the Queen of Tower ravens, but she, of course was always Chris’ raven and I just a poor substitute who shared croissants with her on a Sunday morning until Erin decided I was her creature.
Not long after Hugine’s demise, I think Erin must have realised I was a soft touch and also a friendly face. More importantly I had croissants and nuts – cashew nuts. The way to any raven’s heart is through its stomach and a nut is as good as an eye. When I used to volunteer on a Sunday I would always get in at least 45 minutes before the Tower opened to the public and take my coffee to the Volunteer Sentry Box which is just opposite the execution site (not many people have an office opposite an execution site!). I would sit and listen to the choir in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula either practicing for the 10.45am service or doing the 9.15am matins. I would often be greeted by the great actor David Suchet as he left the early service with his wife. And I would just relish that time alone with all that history around me. Erin soon realised I would have treats at that time and she would actually wait for me by the Bloody Tower as I came in, bounce along the fence, up the steps and sit and wait as I unlocked the Box. Then we would sit and have breakfast together. She loved having the nuts thrown at her so she could catch them in her beak and, after she had gathered at least a dozen, off she would go to bury them. Woe betide any other raven trying to get a look in including her rather bashful mate, Rocky. No wonder he was so nervous the way his own girlfriend would attack him over a spare nut!
Chris had told me that ravens recognise faces and they can remember who has been kind and who has not. I had doubted this just thinking Erin probably pestered all the volunteers the way she did me – I later found she didn’t. But one incident changed my mind. One winter I had a knee operation and couldn’t volunteer for a few months – knees and cobbles don’t go well at the best of times. Finally, I came in one afternoon to attend the Christmas Carol service and I was standing by the steps leading up to the White Tower looking across the South Lawn. I could see a raven in the distance by their enclosure and suddenly its face turned towards me, gave me a hard stare, and then rushed over flapping its wings in what appeared to be great excitement. It was Erin and she hopped on the fence and tapped my bag within which, she knew, would be her nuts. It was a joyous reunion.
Another special moment was the day before my PhD viva. I was feeling nervous but still did my shift in the Tower to take my mind off of it and Erin came for breakfast as usual but then instead of going off to terrorise some poor, unsuspecting tourist she stayed around the box all day as if to give me comfort. Chris had given me one of her feathers – it had dropped off I hasten to add, he didn’t just pull it out for me – and I tucked it into my thesis so she was my lucky charm on the actual day.
The feather is now framed and hangs alongside a lot of raven art people have done or given me over the years – my sister, Kathy Stonier (an animal painter found on Instagram and FB) did me a lovely portrait of Erin when I gained my PhD; Derry Sketcher on X has done a few Erin portraits and also did a wonderful Merlina for me to give to Chris on a special birthday; Biddy Lee on FB has also done me a lovely Erin; and Adrian Teale, caricaturist extraordinaire, designed my logo (he is on most media platforms). Forgive me for the plugs here but all artists deserve a shout out! I also have Erin tattooed on my arm – done by Attila at Nemesis Tattoos – she is perched on an axe holding a crown in her beak – Uneasy lies the head, that wears the Crown.
Erin will always live on in my Tower books and I cherish every moment I had with my raven friend. How lucky was I to have been chosen by her?
Erin is my constant companion, my familiar – Maude de Mandeville Tower of Vengeance
Comments