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Tower
of
London
The Tower
of
London,
officially Her
Majesty's
Royal
Palace
and
Fortress
of
the
Tower
of
London,
is
a
historic castle on
the
north
bank
of
the River
Thames in central
London.
It
lies
within
the London
Borough
of
Tower
Hamlets,
which
is
separated
from
the
eastern
edge
of
the
square
mile
of
the City
of
London by
the
open
space
known
as Tower
Hill.
It
was
founded
towards
the
end
of
1066
as
part
of
the Norman
Conquest
of
England.
The White
Tower,
which
gives
the
entire
castle
its
name,
was
built
by William
the
Conqueror in
1078
and
was
a
resented
symbol
of
oppression,
inflicted
upon
London
by
the
new
ruling
elite.
The
castle
was
also
used
as
a
prison
from
1100
until
1952,
although
that
was
not
its
primary
purpose.
A
grand
palace
early
in
its
history,
it
served
as
a
royal
residence.
As
a
whole,
the
Tower
is
a
complex
of
several
buildings
set
within
two
concentric
rings
of
defensive
walls
and
a moat.
There
were
several
phases
of
expansion,
mainly
under
kings Richard
I, Henry
III,
and Edward
I in
the
12th
and
13th
centuries.
The
general
layout
established
by
the
late
13th
century
remains
despite
later
activity
on
the
site.
The
Tower
of
London
has
played
a
prominent
role
in
English
history.
It
was
besieged
several
times,
and
controlling
it
has
been
important
to
controlling
the
country.
The
Tower
has
served
variously
as
an armoury,
a treasury,
a menagerie,
the
home
of
the Royal
Mint,
a public
record
office,
and
the
home
of
the Crown
Jewels
of
England.
From
the
early
14th
century
until
the
reign
of Charles
II in
the
17th
century,
a
procession
would
be
led
from
the
Tower
to Westminster
Abbey on
the
coronation
of
a
monarch.
In
the
absence
of
the
monarch,
the Constable
of
the
Tower is
in
charge
of
the
castle.
This
was
a
powerful
and
trusted
position
in
the
medieval
period.
In
the
late
15th
century,
the
castle
was
the
prison
of
the Princes
in
the
Tower.
Under
the Tudors,
the
Tower
became
used
less
as
a
royal
residence,
and
despite
attempts
to
refortify
and
repair
the
castle,
its
defensive
systems
lagged
behind
developments
to
deal
with
artillery.
The
peak
period
of
the
castle's
use
as
a
prison
was
the
16th
and
17th
centuries,
when
many
figures
who
had
fallen
into
disgrace,
such
as Elizabeth
I before
she
became
queen,
Sir Walter
Raleigh,
and Elizabeth
Throckmorton,
were
held
within
its
walls.
This
use
has
led
to
the
phrase
"sent
to
the
Tower".
Despite
its
enduring
reputation
as
a
place
of
torture
and
death,
popularised
by
16th-century
religious
propagandists
and
19th-century
writers,
only
seven
people
were
executed
within
the
Tower
before
the
World
Wars
of
the
20th
century.
Executions
were
more
commonly
held
on
the
notorious Tower
Hill to
the
north
of
the
castle,
with
112
occurring
there
over
a
400-year
period.
In
the
latter
half
of
the
19th
century,
institutions
such
as
the
Royal
Mint
moved
out
of
the
castle
to
other
locations,
leaving
many
buildings
empty. Anthony
Salvin and John
Taylor took
the
opportunity
to
restore
the
Tower
to
what
was
felt
to
be
its
medieval
appearance,
clearing
out
many
of
the
vacant
post-medieval
structures.