Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Pal
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and Fortress, more com
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known as the Tower of
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don, is a historic cas
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on the north bank of the River Thames in
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tral London, England. It lies wit
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the London Borough of Tower Hamlets,
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ated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open sp
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kn
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as Tower Hill.
It was fou
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towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Con
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of England. The Wh
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Tower, which gi
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the entire castle its na
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, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, and was a resented sy
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of opp
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, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite. The castle was us
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as a prison sin
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at least 1100, alth
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that was not its primary
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rpose.
A grand palace ea
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in its history, it ser
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as a royal residence. As a whole, the To
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is a complex of se
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buildings set within two concentric rings of defe
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walls and a moat. There were several pha
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of expansion, mainly under Kings Richard the Lionheart, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th cen
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. The general layout esta
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by the late 13th century
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ins despite later
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vity on the site.
The Tower of London has pla
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a prominent role in English history. It was besieged
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eral times and contr
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it has been
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rtant to controlling the cou
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. The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a trea
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, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a pub
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records office, and the home of the Crown Jew
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of the United King
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. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II, a procession would be led from the Tower to Westminster Abbey on the coron
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of a monarch. In the absence of the mon
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, the Constable of the Tower is in charge of the castle. This was a
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erful and trusted position in the medieval period. In the late 15th century the castle was the prison of the Princes in the Tower. Under the Tudors, the Tower became us
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less as a royal resid
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, and despite atte
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to refortify and repair the castle its defe
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lagged behind develo
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to deal with artillery.