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Tower of London, royal fortress and London landmark, on the north bank of the River Thames, on the east side of the ancient administrative division known as the City of London.
Immediately after his coronation (Christmas, 1066), William I the Conqueror began to erect fortifications on the site to dominate the indigenous mercantile community and to control access to the Pool of London, which was the capital’s major port area before the construction of docks farther downstream in the 19th century. The central keep—known as the White Tower—was begun about 1078 close inside the Roman City wall and was built of limestone from Caen in Normandy. During the 12th and 13th centuries the fortifications were extended beyond the City wall, the White Tower becoming the nucleus of a series of concentric defenses enclosing an inner and an outer ward, The inner “curtain” has 13 towers, of which the most famous are the Bloody Tower, the Beauchamp Tower, and the Wakefield Tower. The outer curtain, with its six towers and two bastions, is surrounded by a moat, which was originally fed by the Thames but drained since 1843.
The wall outside the moat, which has embrasures for cannon, some of which are still fired ceremonially on state occasions, is largely the work of Henry VIII. The British crown jewels and regalia are kept in the underground Jewel House, The whole complex of buildings covers 18 ac (7 ha). The only entrance from the land is at the southwest corner, from the City; when the river was still a major highway of London, the 13th-century watergate was much used.
Its nickname, Traitors’ Gate, derives from the many state prisoners brought through it to the Tower, which was long used as a state prison. Many famous English prisoners were murdered or executed there, either on Tower Green or, outside the castle, in public on Tower Hill.
The armouries that now occupy the White Tower, as well as a later 17th-century brick building alongside, house the national collection of arms and armour, including pieces from the early Middle Ages to modern times; the collection was built up round the old Royal Armoury of Henry VIII. The Tower was a royal residence until the reign of James I, from 1603 to 1625. In its time it has also housed the Royal Mint, the ordnance store, the public records, and the Royal Menagerie (the Lion Tower). Most of these functions have been dispersed to other places, but the royal ordnance still keeps an office there. A military garrison is maintained within the Tower, which with its precincts constitutes a “liberty” outside the jurisdictions of the lord mayor and the bishop of London. It is held for the sovereign by a constable, who is now always a field marshal. There is a resident governor, who occupies the 1 6th-century Queen’s House on Tower Green and is in charge of the yeomen warders, or “beefeaters,” as they are popularly called. They still wear a Tudor uniform. By the Tower is Tower Bridge (1894), the only bridge added across the Thames below London Bridge.
