Tower of London: The White Tower, built in 1078, wa...

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The first

The White Tower, built in 1078, was resented from the start

The Tower was founded toward the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror built the White Tower in 1078, and it was at first a resented symbol of oppression. The whitewashing that gives it its name began in 1240.

“...certain fortifications were completed in the city against the restlessness of the huge and brutal populace”

William of Poitiers, biographer of William the Conqueror

Many jobs

An armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, a mint and a jewel house

The Tower has served 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. The Lion Tower was named for the Royal Menagerie, kept there since at least the 1330s.

The walk

Monarchs set out from here to be crowned at the Abbey

From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II, the monarch would prepare for several nights at the Tower and lead a procession from there to Westminster Abbey for the coronation. Richard II did so in 1377.

The escape

The first recorded prisoner was also the first to escape

Bishop Ranulf Flambard was held in the Tower in 1100. On 2 February 1101 he hosted a banquet for his captors, plied them with drink, and lowered himself out on a smuggled rope that had been hidden in a butt of wine.

The record

Darker in its reputation than in the record

The Tower gave the world the phrase sent to the Tower. Yet only seven people were executed within it before the world wars, and it never had a permanent torture chamber. More executions, 112 over 400 years, were held on Tower Hill.

Day 2, afternoon

It comes after St Paul’s Cathedral. Then Tower Bridge.

See it in the plan

Tower of London