Tower of London

The White Tower, the oldest part of the Tower of London, on the banks of the Thames River, London. This tower was constructed from 1078, by the followers of William the Conqueror, and the remainder of the fortress was built around it by succeeding monarchs.

King Edward V of Great Britain and Ireland, and his brother Richard, Duke of York. Edward was deposed just three months after he took the throne, by his uncle, who became Richard III, and the two young princes were imprisoned in the Tower of London. It is traditionally believed that Richard III had his nephews murdered, although there is little evidence to show what really happened to them.

Fortress on the bank of the River Thames to the east of the City of London, England. William (I) the Conqueror established a camp here immediately after his coronation in 1066, and in 1078 Gundulf of Bec, Bishop of Rochester, began building the White Tower on the site of British and Roman fortifications. It is the centrepiece of the fortress and probably the finest and best-preserved Norman keep in existence. It is surrounded by two strong walls and a ditch, now dry, and was for centuries a royal residence and the principal state prison.

Additions to the Tower were added by different monarchs. The inner ward is surrounded by a wall with 13 towers; the outer ward by another wall with 6 towers on the river face and 2 semicircular bastions. It has served variously as a fortress, palace, prison, arsenal, and barracks. Thomas More, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, earls Essex and Strafford, Bishop Laud, and the Duke of Monmouth were among those imprisoned and executed at the Tower.