The 'Tower of Time' was mentioned once in Season 4 by Merlin, yet visited by every Team which managed to reach Level 3.


Its location is on the very tip of Level 2, and to reach the Tower of Time, the dungeoneer will need to hitch a boat ride across the Dunswater. A payment would be made to the mysterious Boatman, who would then take them across the water.

Once delivered safely to the other side of the bank, the team would come across the entrance to Level 3.

Quite why this location is named 'Tower of Time' is not entirely clear. Perhaps the fact it links the dungeoneers to Level 3 is the reason for its identity?

One of the many 'real' locations used for Season 4, this is actually Leeds Castle, in Maidstone, Kent.

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From TES issue 60 (November 2009)

Series 4. Level 2.
THE TOWER OF TIME

“The Tower of Time” is a term that can only be heard during the second episode of series 4, uttered once by Merlin and then a couple of times by dungeoneer Helen and her advisors. Merlin stated that it was the name of the castle in the middle of the Dunswater, which was expertly “played” by Leeds Castle in Kent. Certainly the castle and the huge natural moat strike an impressive pose, and I’ve always seen them as a fitting introduction to level three.

The only real challenge involved in crossing the Dunswater and reaching the Tower of Time was to have picked up all the precious metal on offer throughout level two. Of the four dungeoneers that made the crossing with the cowled ferryman, two paid with gold, one paid with silver, and one paid with silver and gold. Yes, the price was unusually high for Helen, and had been dropped by the time Alistair, Dickon and Giles made the crossing. Having said that, I have a theory that Nicky would also have been asked for silver and gold, had she made it past Ariadne, as she was already in possession of a bar of gold, and there appeared to be a bar of silver waiting for her in Ariadne’s lair. Sadly, though, we’ll never know for sure…

After being punted across the lake and entering Leeds Castle via the main visitors’ entrance, dungeoneers would find themselves suddenly at the top of the main staircase of Castle Rising in Norfolk. From Kent to Norfolk in one step – that’s quite a spacial shift! Yes, there was a lot of screen-time hogged by the eye shield before the dungeoneer actually reached level three, but I quite like the atmosphere generated by the sinister boat ride to the huge brooding castle, followed by the echoing footfalls on the stairs as level three draws ever nearer.

Whether or not you like the more epic feel that Knightmare adopted in series 4, there can be no denying that the Tower of Time did a lot to help create it. I like the Tower of Time, and I hope that you do too!

Difficulty: 2 All that was required was silver or gold, or silver and gold…
Killer Instinct: 0 If you got past Ariadne, you wouldn’t die until level three.
Gore Factor: 4 It might have been fun to see a dungeoneer drown!
Fairness: 10 A very nice prelude to the third level, I’ve always thought.

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"You must cross Dunswater to the Tower of Time. Off with you now: there's no time to waste!"

- Merlin to Helen (Team 1 of Series 4), Series 4 Episode 2

That remark comprises all we really know about the Tower of Time. Treguard and Pickle made no reference to it, nor Hordriss, nor indeed Merlin in any future encounters, in spite of the verbatim repetition heard elsewhere in Series 4.

While it is convenient to assume that Merlin was referring to the building that was in due course seen and reached across the Dunswater by Helen and other dungeoneers (and by Leeds Castle's many visitors), it does not seem entirely accurate to refer to such a castle as a tower - and nothing encountered in or via the castle ever convincingly lived up to the evocative name. There is, then, an apparent incompatibility between John Woodnutt's line and the production team's photographic choice. If only Helen's quest had continued further then we might have gained more insight into these ideas.

At this point, it should be noted that a mysterious tower was seen during Series 4: part of David Rowe's artwork, it was a windowless subterranean construction that could be glimpsed behind the Falling Bridge (see below) and Transporter Pads in Level 3 and in the background during one episode's closing titles. This may have been the Tower of Time.


While the Tower of Time must remain an enigma within Knightmare, fanfiction has sought to offer some elaboration. Rosey Collins' 2005 fanfic The Tower of Time, serialised in The Eye Shield, described the arcane magic that resided in the 'topmost tower' of the Dunswater fortress and offered the possibility of retrieving people from the past, albeit with grave risk of mishap. On the Knightmare Roleplay Forum, the Tower of Time has also been mentioned: Saxonstorm hoped to discover the secrets of his origins by locating it; Callimpsest discovered that the incongruous clock tower added by Merlin to Wolfenden's church was in fact the Tower of Time and could be used to travel to the past, again with inherent dangers. Fanfic The Three of Hearts also includes the Tower of Time.

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