Top London Tourist Location

Built one thousand years ago - London's Tower of London has grown well over the centuries. Succeeding Kings and Queens have enlarged the initial structure which commenced in the year 1078. The Tower of London has always been a Royal Castle Fortress, continually altered and is now currently the very Oldest Palace Fortress and Royal Jail in the whole of Europe. Treason is still now a Capital Offence in the UK and is legally punishable today with the Death Penalty (in the Tower grounds no doubt). The Norman King 'William The Conqueror' invaded England (Year 1066 AD) and defeated the reigning Anglo Saxon King Harold at the battle of Hastings and then on CHRISTMAS DAY in 1066 he was subsequently crowned King of England. Choosing the bank of the Thames River to base his Royal Residence, was mostly down to that location being the absolute farthest downriver on the Thames that a Medieval Stone Bridge could actually be built to cross the river and not collapse during Flood season. King William required an impregnable Fortress to base his army, in order to keep the remaining Medieval English Feudal Lords under his control and prevent them from revolting against him and grabbing back the throne for the English. Londoners did not at all like the invading King, and William could not command their loyalty easily, as he was considered a foreigner, come from Normandy in France. He required a strong sitting army to keep his throne as did all Kings in those times. You may say that nothing has really changed in the last thousand years, Vis-à-Vis the latest worldwide conflicts in progress ! Interestingly the location that William picked for his army was exactly the same location that the Roman Emperor Claudius chose as his English base, many centuries prior and even today you can see wonderful signs of Roman Engineering Skills visible there and in the rest of England (the City of Bath in particular). After it's thousand years of bespeckled history, the Tower of London is now a London Museum ! At the outset the Tower was a simple stone and wood construction with a ditch and palisades outside. The basic structure later acquired a large Stone Tower which was called 'The Great Tower' and is now referred to as The White Tower. Around the year 1240, the then King Henry III moved to the Tower to live in as his Royal Palace. He therefore made it prettier and painted the Great Tower in white, and also expanded his new home, so that he could build a church there to pray in. After all one must not forget that all Medieval Kings said they ruled by Divine Right - and what do you say to that ? In addition a Great Hall and further buildings were erected and the Norman Kings, direct descendants of William, who were still ruling England in the 13th Century (and still speaking French of course!) referred to the Tower of London as 'La Tour Blanche' which in English means The White Tower. The Great/White/Blanche Tower, or the Tower of London if you prefer, has performed many functions over the centuries. A Royal Residence, Palace, Fortress, Jail, All-In-One Military Complex, Royal Mint, Treasury and now it is a London Museum and also London's Number One Tourist Attraction.