The Tower. London’s riverside fortress

The Tower of London is the oldest royal castle in Europe. It’s construction was started by William the Conqueror when he built the White Tower in 1078 as a fortress to protect London. He named it Caesars Tower at that time. Over the course of time up to, and including, the reign of Henry VIII, additions have been made and the fortress has expanded outwards to cover an area of approximately eighteen acres beside the river Thames. By the time Henry’s reign was over, it had a total of twenty towers. It was surrounded by a wide, deep, moat, and could only be accessed by the drawbridge or by boat. As well as being a fortress, it was also used as a royal residence and a prison for some historical characters.

The twenty towers are named as follows:
Devereux Tower, Flint Tower
Bowyer Tower, Brick Tower
Martin Tower, Beauchamp Tower
White Tower,
 Wardrobe Tower
Constable Tower, Broad Arrow Tower
Salt Tower, Middle Tower
Byward Tower, Bloody Tower
Wakefield Tower, Lanthorn Tower
Bell Tower, St. Thomas’s Tower
Cradle Tower, Well Tower.

The Crown Jewels are housed in the Wakefield Tower, and are only removed on rare occasions for ceremonial purposes or the crowning of a new monarch. Their monetary value is impossible to estimate. The Cullinan Diamond is amongst the hundreds of gems embedded in the gold Until 1985 it was the largest cut diamond in the world at 530.2 carats. The jewels can be viewed by members of the public visiting the Tower.

The tower has been used throughout history as a prison for some of the more important prisoners, and those regarded as traitors to the throne. The aptly named ‘Traitors Gate’ was often used to ferry them into their prison quietly, from the Thames.
Some of the people held here included foreign royalty, who had been captured and were to be held for ransom. Many historical figures were also incarcerated here, many of them ending their lives on the chopping block or the gallows. The last prisoners to be held at the Tower were, believe it or not, The infamous east end gangsters the Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie. They were held after deserting from the army while doing their National Service in the 50’s. They went on to be notorious villains before being jailed for murder in 1968.
The royal mint and the public records office were also housed here, as well as the royal arsenal.

There was good reason for William the Conqueror to build the White Tower on this particular site. The City was already enclosed by high walls on all sides, but the river Thames, being much wider then, had caused a problem. Because of it’s tidal nature, the constant water movement had caused the City walls by the river to gradually collapse over a period of time. This left a dangerous gap in the City’s defenses, and for this reason the Tower was placed at this location

In 1090 a storm inflicted a great deal of damage to the lone tower. Both William Rufus, and Henry I carried out repairs, and began to expand the fortress further towards the river, and added castelated walls there.
In 1190 William Longchampe, Chancellor of England, had the outer wall built. He also had a great ditch dug around the Tower which was filled from the Thames. According to Stow, this was because of an altercation with Prince John.

In 1239, Henry III began adding more fortifications to the west side of the castle. A year later, they collapsed. The king ordered them to be rebuilt with stronger materials, but in 1247, they crumbled once more. The people of the City were not pleased with this, having paid great sums of money for the work to be carried out, a total of 12,000 marks.
Henry was never to see the completion of the walls. Edward I had them rebuilt with mounds of earth and mud, and it was during the reign of Edward IV they were replaced with stone. This part was given the name of ‘Lion Tower’ as it was used to house wild animals accepted from foreign royalty as gifts.
On November 22nd 1548 a Frenchman managed to blow it up, along with himself, with a barrel of gunpowder. Once again, it was rebuilt.