The Tower of London, London

The Tower of London is a major attraction in downtown London, just outside the city proper. It got its name from the square-shaped White Tower. It is located at the center of a complex, incorporating a number of structures on the bank of the Thames. In the past it served a wide variety of purposes. The tower was a zoo, a fortress, a treasury, a palace, a place for minting coins, a place of execution, a jail, an observatory and more. When it was a jail it typically housed inmates of higher social classes. Among the royal inmates was Virgin Queen Elizabeth I, detained here during the reign of Mary Tudor, her sister.
There was a fortress here back in Roman times. Emperor Claudius had it built to defend Londinium city. William the Conqueror commissioned construction of the White Tower in 1078 with the purpose to protect London, as well as the Normans from the residents of London. The stone for the tower was imported from France. King Richard the Lionheart had trenches dug around the tower walls and filled them with water from the Thames river. The trenches were improved by Henry III, who used a special Dutch technique. It 1830 the trenches were drained. Human bones were discovered at the bottom.
A royal menagerie was established here in the early 1200s. By the 19th century it was open to the public. Romanticist poet William Blake saw a tiger here, which inspired his famous poem, "Tiger, tiger, burning bright/in the forests of the night."
By 1835 all the animals had been moved to the newly opened London Zoo in Regent's Park.
Criminals from lower classes were often hanged outside the tower. If the crime was especially scandalous the perpetrators were executed publicly on Tower Hill. This was the case with Sir Thomas More, the writer of Utopia and a man notoriously opposed to Protestantism. Henry VIII had him executed. Women were usually beheaded inside the tower. Among the women executed here were Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Margaret Pole, Jane Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey. Lady Jane Grey was Queen of England for just nine days. She was executed on the orders of Mary Tudor, who garnered more public support than Lady Jane. Lady Jane was one of the few monarchs who didn't have a coronation ceremony.
Anne Boleyn was executed in 1536 on the orders of her husband Henry VIII. People claim to have seen a vision of her in the tower, holding her head under her arm.
Today the Tower is considered an official residence of the royals, even though it is not actually inhabited by the Royal Family. It is mainly a tourist attraction. Among the items on display here are the Crown Jewels, a royal armor collection and remnants of a Roman fortification.
The British government maintains eight ravens in the tower. This is an ancient tradition. It is believed that as long as the birds stay there, Britain will be safe from attacks.
The Tower is next to Tower Bridge. The bridge got its name from the tower. Tower Bridge is property of Bridge House Estates. It is a drawbridge with a weight balance mechanism. It is also known as a bascule bridge, from a French word meaning balance and seesaw. Construction of the bridge began in 1886. It took 8 years to complete and employed more than 70 000 tons of concrete, 11 000 tons of steel and 432 construction workers. The steel was covered in imported granite and stone to give the structure a nice appearance. It was inaugurated with an official ceremony in 1893, presided over by the future King Edward VII. Today the walkways of the bridge between the towers are part of an exhibit known as the Tower Bridge Experience. This is a major tourist attraction. The exhibit features holograms, photographs and a movie about the construction of the bridge.