William the Conqueror's riverside fortress on the Thames, guarding the Crown Jewels behind a double ring of walls — a royal palace, prison and stronghold for close to a thousand years
Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Standing remainssubstantial fabric survives to stand in front of
The Tower is really a whole castle rather than a single tower, and the part that gives it its name is the White Tower at the centre, the great square stone keep begun by William the Conqueror around 1078 to overawe the newly conquered city of London. It was one of the largest and strongest buildings in the country when it went up, and later kings wrapped it in more defences: Richard the Lionheart, Henry III and Edward I added two rings of curtain walls studded with towers and a broad moat, turning the keep into a concentric fortress guarding the eastern edge of the City and the approach up the Thames.
Over nine centuries it has been almost everything a castle can be — a royal palace and a last-ditch stronghold, but also a prison, an armoury, the Royal Mint, a menagerie of exotic animals, and the treasury that still holds the Crown Jewels. Its darker fame comes from the prisoners: Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were executed on Tower Green, the young Princes in the Tower vanished here in 1483, and generations of the fallen and the accused were held within its walls. The Yeoman Warders, the Beefeaters, still guard it in Tudor dress, and the resident ravens are kept by an old superstition that the kingdom will fall if they ever leave.
It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 and is looked after by Historic Royal Palaces. The setting is thoroughly urban now — Tower Bridge rises just downstream and the glass towers of the City press in behind — but the Thames Path runs right along the river past the walls, so it pairs easily with a walk on the waterfront. It is one of the busiest visitor attractions in the country, so timed tickets and an early start help.
