The New Student's Reference Work/Tower of London

Tower of Lon′don, a famous ancient citadel erected by William the Conqueror about 1078 to dominate the city. It is in the oldest part of the British metropolis, on the north bank of the Thames, about a mile below London Bridge. It is surmounted by a keep, known locally as the White Tower, — the council chamber of the early kings. The Tower is historically notable for the many distinguished persons — traitors and others — who have been confined within its walls as prisoners of state or have met death on the scaffold or at the headsman's block on the adjoining Tower Hill. In modern days it has become the repository of the national arms; and since the restoration the regalia or crown-jewels have been kept in the Tower on exhibition.