William the Conqueror began building the White Tower in 1066, immediately after his victory at Hastings, as a statement of Norman power over the conquered English. Over the following centuries, every English monarch added to the complex, turning it into the most complete medieval fortification in Britain.
Famous Prisoners
The Tower held some of the most famous prisoners in English history. Anne Boleyn was imprisoned and executed here in 1536. Thomas More, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, and the young princes Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury — the Princes in the Tower, almost certainly murdered here in 1483 — all passed through its gates.
The Gunpowder Plot Connection
Guy Fawkes, arrested on 4 November 1605 after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, was taken to the Tower and tortured until he gave up his co-conspirators. His signature on the confession is barely legible — the trembling hand of a man destroyed by days of interrogation.
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