White Tower, London, England by danapommet

Photography • Historical • posted on Oct 12, 2009

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

The White Tower is 90 feet (27 m) high and the walls vary from 15 feet (4.5 m) thick at the base to almost 11 feet (3.3 m) in the upper parts. Above the battlements rise four turrets; three of them are square, but the one on the northeast is circular, in order to accommodate a spiral staircase. This turret was briefly used as the first royal observatory in the reign of Charles II. Completing the defenses to the south of the Tower was the â��baileyâ�� (outer wall of a feudal castle). The tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners). This use has led to the phrase â��sent to the Towerâ�� (meaning "imprisoned"). It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armory, a treasury, a zoo, the Royal Mint, a public records office and since 1303, the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The building to the right is The Jewel House. There is also a Flemish bronze cannon, cast in 1607, at ground level, also on the right. The tower is whiter than this image, it was raining very hard and wet stone is darker. The portion of wall in the foreground was part of the original outer wall of this fortress. Some information from Wikipedia Thanks for stopping by, taking a peak and for all your previous comments and favs. Dana