Castle building was an essential part of the Norman Conquest; when Duke William of Normandy invaded England in 1066 his first action after landing was to build a castle. His idea was first to conquer, then subdue and finally colonize the whole England.
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After his coronation in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066, William ordered the construction of a castle in London for his triumphal entry
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The tower c. 1100 |
Initially the Tower had consisted of a modest enclosure built into the south-east corner of the Roman City walls, but by the late 1070s, with the initial completion of the White Tower, it had become the most fearsome of all. Nothing had been seen like it in England before. It was built by Norman masons and English (Anglo-Saxon) labor drafted in from the countryside. It was intended to protect the river route from Danish attack, but also and more importantly to dominate the City physically and visually.
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The White Tower was protected to the east and south by the old Roman City walls (a full height fragment can be seen just by Tower Hill underground station), while the north and west sides were protected by ditches as much as 750m (25ft) wide and 3.40m (lift) deep and an earthwork with a wooden wall on top.
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From very early on the enclosure contained a number of timber
buildings for residential and service use. It is not clear whether these
included a royal residence but William the Conqueror's immediate successors
probably made use of the White Tower itself.
It is important for us today to remember that the functions of the Tower from
the 1070s until the late 19th century were established by its Norman founders.
The Tower was never primarily intended to protect London from external invasion,
although, of course, it could have done so if necessary. Nor was it ever
intended to be the principal residence of the kings and queens of England,
though many did in fact spend periods of time there. Its primary function was
always to provide a base for royal power in the City of London and a stronghold
to which the royal family could retreat in times of civil disorder.
The Medieval Tower:
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The Tower c. 1200 |
When Richard the Lionhearted (1189-99) came to the throne he departed on a
crusade to the Holy Land leaving his Chancellor, William Longchamp, Bishop of
Ely, in charge of the kingdom. Longchamp soon embarked on an enlargement and
strengthening of the Tower of London, the first of a series of building
campaigns which by about 1350 had created the basic form of the great fortress
that we know today.
The reign of the next king John (1199-1216) saw little new building work at the Tower, but the King made good use of the accommodation there. Like Longchamp, John had to cope with frequent opposition throughout his reign. Only a year after signing an agreement with his barons in 1215 (the Magna Carta) they were once more at loggerheads and Prince Louis of France had launched an invasion of England with the support of some of John's leading barons. In the midst of his defense of the kingdom, John died of dysentery and his son, Henry III, was crowned.
With England at war with France, the start of King Henry's long reign (1216-72) could have hardly been less auspicious, but within seven months of his accession the French had been defeated at the battle of Lincoln and the business of securing the kingdom could begin. Reinforcement of the royal castles played a major role in this, and his work at the Tower of London was very extensive..
By the mid-1230s, Henry III had run into trouble with his barons and opposition flared up in both 1236 and in 1238. On both occasions the King fled to the Tower of London. . That year, therefore, saw the launch of Henry's most ambitious building program at the Tower, the construction of a great new curtain wall round the east, north and west sides of the castle.
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The Tower c.1270 |
In 1272 King Edward I (1272-1307) came to the throne determined to complete and
extend the defensive works begun by his father. Between 1275 and 1285 the King
created England's largest and strongest concentric castle. (a castle with one
line of defenses within another).
The work included building the existing Beauchamp Tower, but the
main effort was concentrated on filling in Henry III's moat and creating an
additional curtain wall on all four sides and surrounding it by a new moat. This
wall enclosed the existing curtain wall built by Henry III and was pierced by
two new entrances, one from the land on the west, passing through the Middle and
Byward towers, and another under
St Thomas's Tower, from the river. New royal lodgings were included in the upper
part of St Thomas's Tower. Almost all these buildings survive in some form
today.
As early as the reign of Henry III the castle had already been
in regular use as a prison: Hubert de Burgh, Chief Justiciar of England was
incarcerated in 1232 and the Welsh Prince Gruffydd was imprisoned there between
1241 and 1244, when he fell to his death in a bid to escape. The Tower also
served as a treasury (the Crown
jewels were moved from Westminster Abbey to the Tower in 1303.
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The tower c.1300 |
Richard II's reign brought to an end the peaceful interlude under Edward III.
During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 the 14-year old King and many of his family
and household were forced to shelter in the Tower while over 10,000 rebels
plundered and burnt the capital for two days. Just as Richard's reign had begun
at the Tower of London, so did it end; on 1 October 1399 the King, condemned as
a tyrant, renounced the crown in his chamber in the White Tower and Henry IV was
proclaimed King the next day.
The Cradle Tower built by Edward III
During the reign of Henry VI (1422-61 and 1470-71) England entered the period of civil disorder and political instability known as the Wars of the Roses. Throughout this period the Tower of London was a key asset to those who held the throne or wished to.
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The Tower in Tudor Times:
A Royal Prison
The first Tudor monarch, Henry VII (1485-1509) was responsible for building the
last permanent royal residential buildings at the Tower. He extended his own
lodgings around the Lanthorn Tower adding a new private chamber, a library, a
long gallery, and also laid out a garden. These buildings were to form the
nucleus of a much larger scheme begun by his son Henry VIII (1509-47) who put up
a large range of timber-framed lodgings at the time of the coronation of his
second wife, Anne Boleyn. The building of these lodgings, used only once, marked
the end of the history of royal residence at the Tower. The reigns of the Tudor
kings and queens were comparatively stable in terms of civil disorder. However,
from the 1530s onwards the unrest caused by the Reformation (when Henry VIII
broke with the Church in Rome) gave the Tower an expanded role as the home for a
large number of religious and political prisoners,
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The Tower c.1547. |
The first important Tudor prisoners were Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher of
Rochester, both of whom were executed in 1535 For refusing to acknowledge Henry
VIII as head of the English Church. They were soon followed by a still more
famous prisoner and victim, the King's second wife Anne Boleyn, executed along
with her brother and four others a little under a year later. July 1540 saw the
execution of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex and former thief minister of the
King - in which capacity he had modernized the Tower's defenses and, ironically
enough, sent many others to their deaths on the same spot. Two years lacer,
Catherine Howard, the second of Henry VIII's six wives to be beheaded, met her
death outside the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula which Henry had rebuilt a few
years before.
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The Queen's House was where distinguished prisoners were held, including HenryVIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. The last prisoner to stay in the Queen's House was Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Fuhrer of Nazi Germany. |
The reign of Edward VI (1547-53) saw a continuation of the political executions
which had begun in his father's reign; the young King's protector the Duke of
Somerset and his confederates met their death at the Tower in 1552, falsely
accused of treason. During Edward's reign the English Church became more
Protestant, but the King's early death in 1553 left the country with a Catholic
heir, Mary 1 (1553-58). During her brief reign many important Protestants and
political rivals were either imprisoned or executed at the Tower. The most
famous victim was Lady Jane Grey, and the most famous prisoner the Queen's
sister Princess Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth 1). Religious controversy did
not end with Mary's death in 1558; Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603) spent much of
her reign warding off the threat from Catholic Europe, and important recusants
(people who refused to attend Church of England services) and others who might
have opposed her rule were locked tip in the Tower. Never had it been so full of
prisoners, or such illustrious ones: bishops, archbishops, knights, barons,
earls and dukes all spent months and some of them years languishing in the
towers of the tower of London.
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The Tower is guarded by a military guard.
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The monarchy was restored in 1660 and the reign of the new king, Charles II (1660-85) saw further changes in the functions of the Tower. Its role as a state prison declined, and the Office of Ordnance (which provided military supplies and equipment) took over responsibility for most of the castle, making it their headquarters
 The Byward Tower. Constructed during the time of Edward I |
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. During this period another long-standing tradition of the Tower began the public display of the Crown Jewels. They were moved from their old home to a new site in what is now called the Martin Tower, and put on show by their keeper Talbot Edwards.
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The Tower in the 19th Century:
From Fortress to Ancient Monument
Between 18oo and 1900 the Tower of London took on the appearance which to a
large extent it retains today
However, before these changes took place the Tower had once again - but for the
last time performed its traditional role in asserting the authority of the state
over the people of London. The Chartist movement of the 1840s (which sought
major political reform) prompted a final refortification of the Tower between
1848 and 1852, and further work was carried out in 1862.
The
Lion Tower.
To protect the approaches to the Tower new loop-holes and gun emplacements
were built and an enormous brick and stone bastion (destroyed by a bomb during
the Second World War) constructed on the north side of the fortress. Following
the burning down of the Grand Storehouse in 1841, the present Waterloo Barracks
was put up to accommodate a thousand soldiers, and the Brick, Flint and Bowyer
towers to its north were altered or rebuilt to service it; the Royal Fusiliers'
building was erected at the same time to be the officers' mess. The mob never
stormed the castle but the fear of it left the outer defenses of the Tower much
as they are today.
 Yeoman Warders, often called "Beefeaters", have been at the Tower of London since the 14th. century. Today they give guided tours of the Tower . |
 The Fusilier's Museum. Built as the Officer's Mess in the mid-19th century. It was built to accommodate 1,000 soldiers. Today the building is the headquarters of the royal Regiment of Fusiliers. |
The second half of the 19th century saw a great increase in the number of visitors to the Tower, although sightseers had been admitted as early as 1660 In 1841 the first official guidebook was issued and ten years later a purpose-built ticket office was erected at the western entrance. By the end of Queen Victoria's reign in 1901 half a million people were visiting the Tower each year.
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The 20th Century
The First World War (1914-18) left the Tower largely untouched; the only bomb to
fall on the fortress landed in the Moat. However, the war brought the Tower of
London back into use as a prison for the first time since the early 19th century
and between 1914-16 eleven spies were held and subsequently executed in the
Tower. The last execution in the Tower took place in 1941 during the Second
World War (1939-45). Bomb damage to the Tower during the Second World War was
much greater: a number of buildings were severely damaged or destroyed including
the mid-19th century North Bastion, which received a direct hit on 5 October
1940, and the Hospital Block which was partly destroyed during an air raid in
the same year. Incendiaries also destroyed the Main Guard, a late 19th-century
building to the south west of the White Tower.
Today the Tower of London is one of the world's major tourist attractions and 2.5 million visitors a year come to discover its long and eventful history, its buildings, ceremonies
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The White Tower |
The
Exterior
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The White
Tower is the oldest medieval building at the Tower of London. It was put up
within a slightly earlier fortified enclosure created by William the
Conqueror (1066-87). The exact date at which building began is unknown but
is traditionally given as 1078; certainly it was started during the reign of
the Conqueror. It may have been the work of Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, a
renowned builder of castles and churches.
A massive rectangular tower, 35.9m (118ft) by 32.6m (107ft) across and 27.4m (90ft) high, the White Tower was intended to impress, but was also equipped as a fortress and a residence, providing accommodation for the King himself. As such it belongs to a class of buildings usually referred to as the ‘keep’, of which large numbers survive in England and in other parts of Europe - Dover (Kent) and Falaise in Normandy being famous examples. The White Tower is, however, the oldest and largest building of this type in England and was used as a model, endlessly adapted, for later structures. |
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The origin of
its own design is something of a puzzle. Sheer scale and quality apart, its
main peculiarity is the apsidal (semi-circular) protrusion at its south-east
corner which houses the east end of the Chapel. This feature is shared in
England only by the ‘keep’ at Colchester (Essex). Either its builders were
particularly innovative, or as now seems likely, they were following a model
which had already long existed in Normandy, William the Conqueror’s
homeland.
During the course of its history numerous buildings have been put up against the White Tower, including a wall linking it to the Wardrobe Tower (dating from about 1100), the 13th-century Coldharbour gatehouse to the south west (the remains can still be seen) and a huge annexe to the east (built in the 14th century and heightened in the early 19th century). This annexe was demolished only in 1879, leaving the White Tower free-standing, as its builders had intended. The entrance to the White Tower is through the doorway (now much altered) on the south face, which was protected from attack by being raised well above ground level; it would have been reached by a timber stair, as it is today. In the 12th century a stone ‘fore-building’, containing a stone stair, was added at this point for extra protection. It was demolished in 1674. |
 The four weather vanes on the turrets of the White Tower date from 1669. |
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| Detail of an engraving of the White Tower from the north east in 1821, showing the great annexe attributed to Edward III (1327-77) and demolished only in the 19th century. | On the south face of the White Tower are four original windows which survive (although restored) from the Norman period |
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The White
Tower in its present form contains three floors with a basement below, each
split in two by a wall running north-south, the south-east quadrant being
taken up by the Chapel and the spaces below it. The Basement The basement of the White Tower was intended for storage and originally could only be reached from the floor above. Its two main rooms once had timber ceilings but were vaulted in brick in 1733 when the basement was used as a gunpowder store. The basement also contains the 11th-century well, 12m (40ft) deep, which was essential if the keep was to sustain a siege. It still contains fresh water. |
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The Ground
Floor The ground floor of the White Tower houses an exhibition from the collection of the Royal Armouries showing the history of displaying small arms at the Tower of London in the 18th century. The Royal Armouries derives from the great arsenal at the Tower which supplied armour and weapons to the medieval English kings and their armies. The present collection took shape in the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47) who re-stocked the Tower arsenal, and also set up a workshop at Greenwich to make fine armour for himself and his court. The exhibition in the White Tower also includes a model of the 17th-century Grand Storehouse (destroyed by fire in 1841) which housed magnificent displays of arms and armour. Many original features survive in the room; note in particular the gigantic window embrasures and the original 11th-century round-backed fireplace. At this level the space under the Chapel is occupied by a barrel-vaulted room with south and east-facing windows. It is thought that the two main rooms on this floor were originally occupied by the Constable (the monarch’s deputy at the Tower) or may have served as ceremonial reception rooms for the King himself. |
 Henry VIII in jousting armour. Early in his reign the King brought French, Italian and German craftsmen over to England to work in the royal armour workshop in Greenwich. |
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The First
Floor Two spiral stairs lead to the next floor, the main one being housed in the massive round turret at the north-east corner - placed as far away as possible from the main entrance to hinder intruders. The basic layout mirrors that of the floor below, except at the south-east corner, which is occupied by the lower part of the Chapel of St John the Evangelist. The Chapel of St John the Evangelist is one of the most important church interiors of its date in England. Its superb simplicity, relieved only by carving to the capitals and bases, is much admired, but originally it may have been brightly coloured. The Chapel is unique among keep chapels in having aisles and a continuous tribune gallery above them. Throughout the Middle Ages the Chapel was used by the sovereign and his court when at the Tower and was the scene of some of the great events in British royal history. In 1503 the body of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII, lay in state in the Chapel after her death in the Tower during childbirth. It was also here that Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, was betrothed to Philip of Spain by proxy in 1554. It is thought that this more magnificent floor was used by the king himself. The larger room may have functioned as a ‘great hall’, used for public gatherings, ceremonial and formal meals, the smaller one as a more private chamber. By at least the mid-12th century, however, these apartments had been duplicated by new buildings put up in the area to the south of the White Tower which gradually replaced the White Tower as royal accommodation. |
 The Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llewelyn was imprisoned in the White Tower by Henry III but fell to his death in 1244 trying to escape. |
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| During the reign of Henry III (1216-72) the Chapel of St John the Evangelist was whitewashed and furnished with three stained glass windows depicting the Virgin and Child, the Holy Trinity and St John the Evangelist. Most of the existing stained glass in the Chapel was purchased in the 19th century from Horace Walpole’s collection at Strawberry Hill. | Charles, Duke of Orleans (lived 1391-1465), imprisoned in the White Tower. This illustration is from a manuscript edition of Orleans’ poetry, dated about 1487, which was presented to Henry VII. It is the first detailed representation of the Tower of London. |
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The Second
Floor The top floor of the building contains two main rooms, as below, and the upper part of the Chapel. Here there are the same number of windows, but a passage inside the wall thickness runs round all four sides except where interrupted by the Chapel, at which point it continues as the tribune gallery. It is generally accepted that the rooms at this level did not exist when the White Tower was first built, and that those below rose up through it, creating two immensely high interiors overlooked by the existing gallery. This would certainly explain why there are no garderobes (lavatories) or fireplaces on this floor. Traces of a pitched roof over each room have recently been identified on the inner faces of the north and south walls at this level. This suggests that the galleried walls here may originally have formed an external ‘screen’ around the top of the building, before the roof was replaced at or near its present level. Alternatively, the raising of the roof and the building of the galleried wall may have taken place at the same time - an event which the design of the wall would place before about 1100. The main stair continues from the second floor to the turret above, while smaller stairs lead to the turrets over the west-facing corners. In later centuries, the White Tower was put to a variety of uses. Its residential functions may have continued in some form until about 1600, even if just for prisoners; the captured French King Jean le Bon (1350-64) was lodged here in 1360, and a famous miniature shows Charles Duke of Orleans (a close relative of the French King), sitting in the White Tower in the 15th century. Its occasional use for state events continued through the Middle Ages and into the reign of Henry VIII, when it was refurbished for the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533. But thereafter it came to be used largely for storage, although for a few months in 1675 Charles II’s ‘astronomical observator’, John Flamsteed, made use of the north-east turret before he moved to his new observatory at Greenwich. The first reference to the Armouries in the White Tower dates from 1565. At first these were open at least to privileged visitors, and as early as 1599 we hear of a servant appointed to take entrance fees. But soon the building became a magazine and arms store, as well as a repository for the state papers held by the Record Office, which were kept close to the gunpowder stores. It was only in the late 19th century that most of the White Tower was open to the public, and the Armouries there became a series of displays instead of a working arsenal. This tradition lives on through the work of the Royal Armouries. The process of displaying the collection now continues beyond the walls of the Tower (at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth and at Clarence Dock, Leeds), but a wealth of material inextricably linked to the history and development of the Tower of London remains within the White Tower. |
 This engraving, dated 1805, shows the Chapel of St John the Evangelist in use as a storehouse for state records. |
