The history of the Tower of London
Theme: “The history of the Tower of London”
Ryazan 2002
Contents:
1. The Development of the Tower
2. The Normans
3. The Medieval Tower
4. The Tower in Tudor Times
5. The Restoration and After
6. The Tower in the 19th Century
7. The 20th Century
The Tower of London
The History of the Tower of London
Fortress, Palace and Prison
This short history of the Tower of London charts the different
stages of its development. Throughout its history, the Tower has attracted
a number of important functions and its role as armoury, royal palace,
prison and fortress is explained, as well as its modern role as tourist
attraction and
home to a thriving community.
The development of the Tower
The Tower of London was begun in the reign of William the Conqueror
(1066-1087) and remained unchanged for over a century. Then, between 1190
and 1285, the White Tower was encircled by two towered curtain walls and a
great moat. The only important enlargement of the Tower after that time was
the building of the Wharf in the 14th century. Today the medieval defences
remain relatively unchanged.
The Normans
WestmCastle building was an essential part of the Norman Conquest:
when Duke William of Normandy invaded England in 1066 his first action
after landing at Pevensey on 28 September had been to improvise a castle,
and when he moved to Hastings two days later he built another. Over the
next few years William and his supporters were engaged in building hundreds
more, first to conquer, then subdue and finally to colonise the whole of
England.
By the end of the Anglo-Saxon period London had become the most
powerful city in England, with a rich port, a nearby royal palace and an
important cathedral. It was via London that King Harold II (1066) and his
army sped south to meet William, and to London which the defeated rabble of
the English army returned from the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Securing the
City was therefore of the utmost importance to William. His contemporary
biographer William of Poitiers tells us that after receiving the submission
of the English magnates at Little Berkhampstead, William sent an advance
guard into London to construct a castle and prepare for his triumphal
entry. He also tells us that, after his coronation in inster Abbey on
Christmas Day 1066, the new King withdrew to Barking (in Essex) ‘while
certain fortifications were completed in the city against the restlessness
of the vast and fierce populace for he realised that it was of the
first importance to overawe the Londoners.
These fortifications may have included Baynard’s Castle built in the south-
west angle of the City (near Blackfriars) and the castle of Monfichet (near
Ludgate Circus) and almost certainly the future Tower of London. 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) labour drafted in from the countryside,
perhaps to the design of Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester. It was intended to
protect the river route from Danish attack, but also and more importantly
to dominate the City physically and visually. It is difficult to appreciate
today what an enormous impression the tower and other Norman buildings,
such as St Paul’s Cathedral (as rebuilt after 1086) or the nearby
Westminster Hall (rebuilt after 1087) must have made on the native
Londoners.
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 7.50m (25ft) wide and 3.40m (11ft) deep and an earthwork
with a wooden wall on top. In the 12th century a ‘fore-building’ (now
demolished) was added to the south front of the White Tower to protect the
entrance. The Wardrobe Tower, a fragment of which can be seen at the south-
east corner of the building, was another early addition or rebuilding. 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:
A refuge and a base for royal power
When Richard the Lionheart (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 justification for the vast
expenditure and effort this involved was the political instability of the
kingdom and the Crown’s continuing need for an impregnable fortress in the
City of London.
Longchamp’s works doubled the area covered by the fortress by digging
a new and deeper ditch to the north and east and building sections of
curtain wall, reinforced by a new tower (now known as the Bell Tower) at
the south-west corner. The ditch was intended to flood naturally from the
river, although this was not a success. These new defences were soon put to
the test when the King’s brother, John, taking advantage of Richard’s
captivity in Germany, challenged Longchamp’s authority and besieged him at
the Tower. Lack of provisions forced Longchamp to surrender but the Tower’s
defences had proved that they could resist attack.
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 defence 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 more extensive than anywhere other than at Windsor Castle. Henry
III was only ten years old in 1216, but his regents began a major extension
of the royal accommodation in the enclosure which formed the Inmost Ward as
we know it today. The great hall and kitchen, dating from the previous
century, were improved and two towers built on the waterfront, the
Wakefield Tower as the King’s lodgings and the Lanthorn Tower (rebuilt in
the 19th century), probably intended as the queen’s lodgings. A new wall
was also built enclosing the west side of the Inmost Ward.
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. But as he sheltered in the castle in March
1238 the weakness of the Tower must have been brought home to him; the
defences to the eastern, western and northern sides consisted only of an
empty moat, stretches of patched-up and strengthened Roman wall and a few
lengths of wall built by Longchamp in the previous century. That year,
therefore, saw the launch of Henry’s most ambitious building programme at
the Tower, the construction of a great new curtain wall round the east,
north and west sides of the castle at a cost of over Ј5,000. The new wall
doubled the area covered by the fortress, enclosing the neighbouring church
of St Peter ad Vincula. It was surrounded by a moat, this time successfully
flooded by a Flemish engineer, John Le Fosser. The wall was reinforced by
nine new towers, the strongest at the corners (the Salt, Martin and
Devereux). Of these all but two (the Flint and Brick) are much as
originally built. This massive extension to the Tower was viewed with
extreme suspicion and hostility by the people of London, who rightly
recognised it as a further assertion of royal authority. A contemporary
writer reports their delight when a section of newly-built wall and a
gateway on the site of the Beauchamp Tower collapsed, events they
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