The Tower of London: Past & Present by Geoffrey Parnell

Black-and-white photographs

A collection of black-and-white photographs on the ancient monument and modern tourist attraction, taken between 1850 and 1950, many of them previously unpublished. Chapters on the buildings, displays, world wars, and community and events open with a short introduction.

White Tower

The Tower of London is often identified with the White Tower, the original stark square fortress built by William the Conqueror in 1078. However, the Tower as a whole is a complex of several buildings set within two parallel rings of defensive walls and a moat.

Royal palace and prison

The Tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace and a prison. In the 12th century, King Richard the Lionheart enclosed the White Tower with a curtain wall and had a moat dug around it filled with water from the Thames. The moat was not successful until Henry III, in the 13th century, employed a Dutch moat-building technique. This king greatly strengthened the curtain wall, breaking down the city wall to the east, to extend the circuit, despite the protests of the citizens of London and even supernatural warnings (if the contemporary monastic chronicler Matthew Paris is to be believed). Henry III transformed the Tower into a major royal residence and had palatial buildings constructed within the Inner Bailey.
The Tower of London was used as a prison for those of high rank and for religious dissidents. Those of high rank, including prisoners of royal status, were housed in relative comfort. Religious dissidents were however much more severely treated and were often tortured.

By Geoffrey Parnell

Publisher: Sutton Publishing
ISBN: 0750917636

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