Ainsworth celebrated the conclusions of The Tower of London with a large dinner party near the printers of his works, Bradbury and Evans, at the Sussex Hotel.

[1] The plot begins with Lady Jane Grey, wife of Guilford Dudley and daughter-in-law to the Duke of Northumberland, as she enters the Tower of London on 10 July 1553.

[3] There are conspiracies over Mary's rule of England, which come from those who supported the imprisoned Lady Jane and also those who wish to put Elizabeth I, the Protestant daughter of Henry VIII, on the throne.

Ainsworth was grateful for the illustrations to the novel,[3] and he wrote in the preface that "it was no slight satisfaction to him, that circumstances at length enabled him to carry into effect his favourite project, in conjunction with the inimitable artist whose designs accompany the work.

"[5] The novel begins with a preface which explains:[3] "It has been, for years, the cherished wish of the writer of the following pages, to make the Tower of London – the proudest monument of antiquity, considered with reference to its historical associates, which this country, or any other possess – the groundwork of a romance".

By recounting suffering and torture in The Tower of London, Ainsworth made plain the consequences of failed political intrigue in the Tudor period.

Jardine notes that members of the nobility were not tortured; Ainsworth overlooks this with the intention of showing that failure in political machinations came at a high price.

[13] In 1934, Malcolm Elwin argues, "several of his novels – particularly Tower of London and Old St. Paul's, in spite of the absurd antics of the hero of the latter – have undoubtedly the quality of durability.

[17] The enduring image of the Tower of London as a grim place of torture and imprisonment was largely shaped by the works of 19th-century authors, particularly Ainsworth's novel.

[18][19] Such was its influence in emphasising the Tudor epoch of the Tower's history, in the late 20th century historians R Allen Brown and P Curnow felt it still dominated the public perception of the castle.

In their official handbook to the Tower, published in 1986, they noted that "Still an innocent visitor to the place today might be led to suppose by guides and guidebooks, that it was built almost entirely for the Tudor monarchs".