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Tower of London
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LEFT:
The shadow of the axe falls before the White Tower, which was begun in 1077
and finished 20 years later. INSET BELOW: Tudor reenactment near the
Queen's House on Tower Green.. |
Capsule history
 The
Tower of London's history can be traced back to 1067, when William the Conqueror
ordered a wooden fortress built along the Thames to keep Londoners from
rebelling against their Norman occupiers. Ten years later, work began on the
White Tower, a stone keep built atop ruins of Roman fortifications. This
stronghold--which William named the "Tower of London"--soon grew into a
full-scale castle with concentric walls, a moat, and other buildings such as the
Garden Tower or Bloody Tower (where the Little Princes are said to have been
murdered in 1485), Beauchamp Tower (famous for its carvings and inscriptions of
medieval prisoners), and Queen's House, where Elizabeth I was imprisoned on
orders of her half-sister, Queen Mary, for several months in 1554).
The Tower is perhaps best known as a prison, a role that it
served from the beginning of the 11th Century until the early years of World War
II. It has also housed the Royal Mint, a menagerie, an armory, and the Crown
Jewels. Since World War II, the Tower of London has been open to the public as
an historic site and tourist attraction.
Next page:
Famous prisoners
Photos copyright
© HRP. Used by permission. | |
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